PARIS.- French high school students resumed blockades on Monday, November 2, 2026, as they returned from a two-week autumn break, blocking school entrances with wheelie bins in Paris and its suburbs and in cities including Lille, Toulouse, Marseille and Rennes, in a protest over school conditions and the rising cost of living that has become one of the biggest social crises of Emmanuel Macron's presidency. The scale of the first day back was disputed: the Education Ministry said 41 high schools were blocked by 8:30 a.m., about 1 percent of the country's roughly 3,700 secondary schools, while student unions put the figure far higher, at 150.
The students' demands have barely moved since the movement began in mid-September in the Paris suburbs: more funding for run-down schools, more teachers, more university places and the abolition of Parcoursup, the university admissions system protesters call socially unfair. Student unions are asking for about 10 billion euros in extra funding for secondary schools and higher education. Education Minister Edouard Geffray offered last week to cap class sizes at 28, spend 4 billion euros renovating schools, cancel planned staff cuts, add 500 teaching posts and 15,000 university places, and prepare to abolish Parcoursup by 2028. The student federations called those measures only a first step and said they do not fix the structural problems.
A tense week ahead: university blockades Tuesday, general strike Thursday
The action is set to widen. University student unions planned additional barricades at faculties on Tuesday, and trade unions have called a large-scale strike for Thursday, with rail workers, teachers and private-sector employees planning to join demonstrations across France. The government has warned that weeks without lessons are putting some pupils' school years and final exams at risk, a concern echoed by headteachers who say coursework and university applications are also in jeopardy. Emmanuel Macron has called for students to return to class, saying the government has listened to young people, while student unions ignored his call to end the lycée blockades.
Police were present outside some schools on Monday and removed bins and made arrests in places, though officers were not in full anti-riot gear, according to television footage. In Montpellier, Socialist senator Hussein Bourgi accused the government of misconduct after video footage showed a 53-year-old school nurse being forced face-down near a school barricade, according to The Guardian's report. Saturday's demonstrations had already brought 779 arrests by the evening, according to French authorities, compared with 2,628 arrests during the October 17 protests and 1,314 the previous weekend, with tear gas used in Lyon and Toulouse.
Read more on The Wire Post: France Braces for Its Most Dangerous Week: School Blockades Tuesday, General Strike Thursday as Emmanuel Macron's Approval Hits a Record Low, Laurent Nuñez Puts France's Third Saturday Arrests at 565 as Students Call School Blockades and a November 5 General Strike and Pierre Sourzat calls for French high school blockades to restart.
Sources: The Guardian via World Right Now, Reuters via Tribune and DNYUZ, Africa Eye, November 2, 2026.