Up to 500 French high schools will be shut for Monday after clashes between riot police and student demonstrators in recent days, the education minister said on Sunday.
Some schools will have lessons totally or partially suspended because security conditions have not been met, the minister added.
He also warned that 24 schools have been burned or ransacked since the protests began.
Students are demanding more teachers, less overcrowding and better buildings – a call that has spread from Paris to cities such as Montpellier, Nantes and Marseille.
Justice Minister Darmanin said 735 of France’s 3,700 schools had been affected in one way or another by violent protests on Friday.
The education minister assured a ‘partial, progressive return to lessons’ for those schools that could reopen.
He blamed far‑left activists for hijacking the movement and escalating violence, noting 78 staff members had been wounded – a level of injury he said was unprecedented.
Interior Minister Nuñez reported 1,747 people were arrested on Friday, and the AFP says there have been over 5,000 arrests in total, with 85 percent of them minors.
Paris Government plans to accelerate a review of its vandal‑pays bill so that those who damage property will pay for repairs.
