Students in Naples included opposition to a planned migrant detention centre among their demands as education protests spread across Italy and France. In France, students blocked schools and marched on Thursday, Oct. 8, over funding, staff shortages and dilapidated buildings. Italian occupations also challenged increased military spending and poor school conditions.
Education protests meet border politics
In Naples, students added opposition to the planned migrant detention centre to their demands. Activists in Italy rallied under the slogan “let's do as they do in France,” organising school occupations, assemblies and marches. Turin students occupied several high schools over building conditions, education funding and increased military spending. In Rome, students occupied one high school and walked out of another.
The French demonstrations extended a wave of protests that began in late September. On Thursday, the Education Ministry reported 375 schools fully or partly closed, fewer than on Tuesday. At least a dozen demonstrations were planned nationwide. Officials counted 71,500 demonstrators across France, including 24,500 in Paris. The Interior Ministry said police arrested 504 people and 48 officers suffered injuries. It also reported that 55,000 people took part in “actions outside schools, only some of whom joined the demonstrations.”
At Hélène Boucher high school in northeastern Paris, students barricaded the school with garbage bins before police moved in. Police used tear gas and a water cannon at Place de la Bastille, where some protesters threw projectiles at riot police. Officers later charged protesters with batons as they cleared the square. France's Interior Ministry said police had made more than 6,600 arrests since late September.
Police response and students’ demands
Many protesters wore surgical masks or hoodies. The live report said an investigation followed a 17-year-old boy’s head injury outside a secondary school in Marseille. After a 15-year-old boy lost his hand in a clash with riot police, the government suspended stun-grenade use. France's branch of UNICEF called for “a de-escalation of violence” and “the protection of minors,” saying young people had the right to demonstrate peacefully.
“We're here to defend our rights, not to lose an eye or a hand,” said Emma Khelil, an 18-year-old university student who returned to support protesters at her former high school. She described insulation problems and water leaks in the building, and said she had sometimes seen rats. At the Bastille rally, 15-year-old student Jeanne said everyone in the public education system should have the right to be educated at the same level.
Students and staff have described absent teachers, overcrowded classes and deteriorating facilities. Teacher Diane Di Sciullo, 28, said her class in Marseille had 37 students. “At the start of every lesson, I have to ask them to check the neighbouring classrooms for spare chairs and desks so they can actually study,” she said. Education Minister Édouard Geffray pledged to deploy 3,000 replacement teachers “in the coming days.” Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said the government would send 3,024 supply teachers, prioritising 114 secondary schools facing the greatest difficulties.
A wider political dispute
Lecornu promised a plan to respond to the crisis by the end of October. Students who spoke to AFP remained unconvinced. “We don't want words, we want action,” said 17-year-old Camille in Nantes. Sabrine Kharbach, a student union spokesperson, said: “Until we have 10 billion euros on the table, we will continue to take action.” Unions representing teachers, students and high-school pupils called for a nationwide strike on Tuesday, Oct. 13.
Lecornu accused LFI, the largest single left-wing party in parliament, of stirring protests and seeking to “throw the country into chaos” ahead of the 2027 presidential election. LFI accused police of a disproportionate response, including toward minors. Bally Bagayoko, mayor of Saint-Denis and an LFI member, stood between police and young protesters in Paris and told officers “stop.” He said police had charged and pursued students, “many of whom had shown no aggressive behaviour whatsoever toward the police officers.”
Protests also took place in Belgium. City police used water cannon and tear gas against several hundred demonstrators, and nearly 90 people were arrested. In Liege, the mayor banned public gatherings until midnight on Oct. 16, citing a “real, serious and imminent risk” of further clashes and vandalism.