French Student Protests Hit Biggest Day Yet as Riot Police Clash With Demonstrators and Bond Yields Stay Elevated

High-school blockades and marches took place across France on Tuesday, the largest day of action in a fortnight of demonstrations that began in Paris’s deprived suburbs. Students, teachers and unions are demanding that the cash-strapped government fix understaffed, overcrowded and dilapidated schools.

The Interior Ministry said 256,000 people took part, and most were peaceful. Police fired tear gas in Lyon, Strasbourg and Rennes, where some protesters lit fires and threw projectiles. In Paris, police said about 300 “hostile individuals” tried to engage security forces at the front of the march. The High School Students Union said more than half of France’s high schools were blockaded or closed.

Arrests, Injuries and Government Response

Authorities say 6,100 people have been arrested since the unrest began, mostly minors, and more than 1,800 are being prosecuted, including 1,483 minors. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office reports at least 715 police officers and 215 teenagers injured. Lecornu condemned the violence, rejected claims that police are racist or act deliberately to hurt protesters, and said he welcomed peaceful marches.

He has told ministers to tackle core demands, including replacing absent teachers, reviewing the 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. school day, allowing longer lunch breaks and repairing ageing buildings. Socialist leader Olivier Faure joined the Paris march, and hard-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon called it the most powerful youth movement in 50 years. US President Donald Trump blamed mass migration, while protesters point to overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages. Education Minister Edouard Geffray called weak PISA results concerning and linked part of the decline to social media and phone use.

Le Pen Budget Plan and French Bond Market Pressure

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who leads polls ahead of the April 18 and May 2 presidential vote, said she would raise her target to €140 billion in net savings by 2032 versus 2026, aiming to return the deficit to 3% without touching pensions. France’s 10-year yield fell 11 basis points to 4.75%, after briefly topping 5% last week, a 24-year high. Macquarie said the plan relies on spending cuts rather than structural reform and expects more social upheaval before the election. Mélenchon attacked it as austerity, while one economist mocked its sums as “mathemagical.”