France entered the weekend facing rapidly escalating unrest, with protests spreading from Paris to major cities including Marseille, Strasbourg, Lille, Nantes, and Le Havre. By Friday, authorities had made more than 5,000 arrests—most of them minors—and hundreds of high schools were either closed or severely disrupted amid fires, vandalism, and clashes with police, reported NPR.
Education Minister Édouard Geffray said lessons will be “totally or partly suspended” in 400 to 500 high schools on Monday because security requirements “have not been fulfilled.” He added that 24 schools have been “burned or ransacked” since the start of the unrest, noted Le Monde on Oct. 4.
