Why France’s school protests are a problem for president Macron

This Is Why · Oct 7, 2026 · 22m

Imagine being tear-gassed and targeted with stun grenades – all for complaining about timetables, absent teachers and crumbling classrooms.

That’s the experience of thousands of French students, whose initial demonstrations over high school conditions have evolved into a wider national protest across 40 towns and cities.

Parents, teachers and a sympathetic public have all joined pupils on the barricades. But far-right groups have accused those on the left of politicising the movement.

And while the use of stun grenades has now been suspended in France, the response from the police and…