Riot police in France clashed with students as protests over school standards and a shortage of teachers continued. About 735 schools have faced disruption as the demonstrations, some of them violent, persisted. The unrest has interrupted classes across a wide stretch of the public education system.
The protests have focused on two linked complaints: concern that academic standards have slipped and that too many classrooms lack enough teachers. Students have taken a prominent role as the campaign has intensified and more campuses have been drawn into the disruption.
The disruption of hundreds of schools underscores how widely the dispute has spread through the public education system.
Confrontations between police and demonstrators have marked some protest sites as authorities moved to contain the unrest. The scale of school closures and interruptions indicates how far the dispute has traveled beyond isolated campuses.
Staffing gaps have been a recurring source of pressure on French schools, and the latest clashes add to that strain. No full official accounting of arrests or injuries was immediately available as the protests continued.
