What Began at Saint-Exupéry

On September 17, 2026, teachers at Lycée Antoine-de-Saint-Exupéry, a public high school in Créteil, southeast of Paris, went on strike. The school year had begun with open positions across the institution. Teachers were missing, along with administrative and student-support personnel. Parents and staff identified shortages including a deputy principal, a nurse, a social worker, and assistance for students with disabilities. Students joined the teachers, began blockading the school the following day, and subsequently marched to the regional education authority, the rectorat de Créteil, to demand additional staff.

Within weeks, more than a thousand French high schools would be affected by similar disruptions. High school students would later be joined by university students, teachers, trade unions, and eventually by Yellow Vest protesters in a revived mobilization. The protests would draw hundreds of thousands of people into the streets.

But at Saint-Exupéry, the original demands were quite specific. The school's students and teachers needed personnel to perform jobs that the education system was already supposed to provide.

By October 5, while some needs remained unresolved, the rectorat had authorized enough additional appointments, addressing several of the vacancies for classes to resume.

But as classes resumed in Créteil, the movement that began there continued spreading across France.

Sources for this section: CGT Ville de Paris · Le Monde / Oscar Korbosli.

From Créteil to Saint-Denis

In Saint-Denis, north of Paris, students at Lycée Paul-Éluard were dealing with a different set of issues. Teachers and students described damaged ceilings, windows that could not safely be opened, inadequate furniture, pests, absent teachers, and insufficient health and social-support staff. Temporary classrooms installed during construction were reportedly excessively hot during warm weather and poorly heated during cold weather.

The building had been a concern for years. Parts of its ceilings collapsed in 2023. The regional government committed to an extensive renovation, but work did not begin until this summer.

In October, Paul-Éluard became one of the most visible centers of the national movement. Students, teachers, parents, and supporters assembled outside the school to call attention to its condition. On October 13, students from neighboring high schools joined a gathering at Paul-Éluard where Greta Thunberg appeared. Pupils later joined the demonstration in Paris.

Nearby, at Lycée Rosa-Parks, another group of students was working through its own concerns.

On October 9, principal Erwan Morand convened 42 elected class delegates representing a student body of approximately 1,150. The meeting was part of a government-supported effort to create opportunities for student dialogue. Students came prepared. They had already spent two hours discussing school conditions in their individual classes. The delegates gathered in an auditorium to consolidate their concerns.

The subjects ranged from classroom temperatures and cafeteria waiting times to school schedules stretching from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Students also raised concerns about why classmates in Paris appeared to receive earlier and better information about prestigious university preparatory programs than students attending schools in the surrounding suburbs. And they expressed concerns about bias in Parcoursup, France's national higher-education admissions platform.

The students were clear about who they felt bore responsibility for addressing their concerns. According to Le Monde, the students named the regional education authority, Education Minister Édouard Geffray, and Île-de-France regional president Valérie Pécresse among the people and institutions the students expected improvements from.

By then, students at schools across France were describing overlapping problems but not necessarily identical ones. The shortages at Saint-Exupéry, the deteriorating facilities at Paul-Éluard, and concerns about educational inequality at Rosa-Parks had each produced demands directed toward different levels of France's education system.

Sources for this section: Région Île-de-France · Le Monde / Louise Couvelaire · Le Monde / Sylvie Lecherbonnier.

How the movement spread

The connections between those schools had begun taking shape in September. The first blockades were organized locally. At Saint-Exupéry, students communicated through Snapchat, made signs, and arranged their own action. As images and accounts of school disruptions circulated, students elsewhere began organizing around conditions at their institutions.

As the number of schools participating increased, existing student organizations began coordinating activity across them.

On September 28, Ryad Rani, president of the Union Syndicale Lycéenne (USL), announced that the union had decided to extend the mobilization nationally because the problems identified in Paris existed elsewhere in France.

The following day, the USL and the university organization L'Union Étudiante issued a joint call for high-school and university blockades on October 1, followed by a nationwide youth demonstration on October 6. The organizations circulated demands addressing teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms, deteriorating facilities, university admissions, and the affordability of education.

By the evening of October 1, the Interior Ministry reported that 1,027 high schools had been affected by actions, including 222 blockades.

The rapid growth reflected both students responding to conditions at their own schools and student organizations attempting to connect those separate actions into a national campaign.

The coordinating infrastructure continued to develop. Students held assemblies within schools, met with representatives from neighboring institutions, and formed local and regional groups to exchange information and agree on next steps.

Trade unions also got involved. The Confédération générale du travail (CGT), one of France's major trade union confederations, supported student demonstrations and backed demands for greater educational resources. It called on its organizations to open union meeting halls to students, help protect mobilizations, and coordinate protest declarations with high-school and university organizations.

The movement was no longer dependent on whether Saint-Exupéry, or any other individual high school, continued its blockade.

Sources for this section: L'Union Étudiante · RTL with AFP · Le Monde / Arthur Carpentier and Jérémie Pham-Lê · Le Monde live.

Beyond high school

By early October, students at French universities and elite professional schools had joined the mobilization.

On October 13, entrances to CentraleSupélec, a selective engineering school on the Plateau de Saclay near Paris, were blockaded. Other institutions in the area, including ENSAE and Télécom Paris, were also disrupted.

University students brought demands of their own. Some questioned institutional relationships with oil and defense companies, the treatment of international students, and the affordability of higher education. In Marseille, nursing students joined the October 13 demonstrations and sought better compensation for clinical internships.

L'Union Étudiante published a ten-point emergency platform calling for school and university renovations, additional educational and health personnel, more higher-education places, expanded financial assistance, and changes to the national admissions systems Parcoursup and Mon Master. Higher-education places are available enrollment spots in universities and other postsecondary programs.

Parcoursup had become a particularly important concern. The platform manages applications to higher education, and students argue that its selection procedures are insufficiently transparent and reinforce existing social inequalities. Individual universities and programs make admissions decisions, but how the platform functions and its rules are governed by national higher-education policy, overseen by Philippe Baptiste, France's minister of higher education, research and space.

University participation was also helping sustain the movement as high schools approached their October holidays.

On October 19, students from the École du Louvre and other art and architecture schools blockaded entrances to the Louvre, preventing it from opening normally. They described the action as solidarity with high-school students and called for additional education and cultural funding. Representatives of the CGT at the Louvre joined them in support.

Some participating students described a network of roughly ten schools and institutions in Paris's Latin Quarter that had been coordinating the action for two weeks.

Sources for this section: Vert / Mathilde Picard · Le Monde · L'Union Étudiante · Le Monde / Mattea Battaglia · Parcoursup · Le Monde.

Who can give the students what they want?

France's high schools operate within a division of responsibility among national and regional authorities.

The Ministry of National Education, led by Édouard Geffray, is responsible for national education policy and the teaching workforce. The rectorats administer the education system across their territories, including many staffing decisions. Regional governments, including the Île-de-France Regional Council under Valérie Pécresse, are responsible for constructing, equipping, renovating, and maintaining public high-school buildings.

Île-de-France's high-school renovation program was adopted in 2017 and subsequently expanded to €6.6 billion in investment. The region reports progress in renovating deteriorating buildings and increasing the number of students its high schools can accommodate. At Paul-Éluard, students and staff have continued documenting deficiencies even as a major renovation is underway.

Nationally, the government has also taken action. On October 8, Education Minister Édouard Geffray announced an emergency response that included mobilizing more than 3,000 substitute teachers, authorizing several hundred additional recruitments, and providing supplementary teaching hours to fill short-term gaps.

He also announced proposed changes to student-representation structures, including additional representation for vocational high-school students and greater participation in regional education discussions. The ministry opened an online consultation alongside meetings with student organizations and discussions in individual schools.

The government's consultation process also differed from the assemblies students were organizing independently. Official student representatives and the ministry were establishing one channel for discussion, while mobilized students were developing another through school demonstrations and national coordination meetings.

On October 21, during the opening session of an accelerated government consultation on Parcoursup at the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, four student organizations—the Union Syndicale Lycéenne, L'Union Étudiante, UNEF, and FAGE—walked out of the meeting after Minister Philippe Baptiste's introductory remarks, along with the FSU education union federation.

The organizations objected to the participation of the Union nationale interuniversitaire (UNI), citing alleged antisemitic incidents involving some of its members. UNI responded that the individuals implicated had been expelled from the organization within 24 hours.

The disagreement also exposed differences over what the negotiations were intended to accomplish. The ministry was considering changes to Parcoursup, including greater transparency in admissions criteria and the possibility of additional higher-education enrollment spots. L'Union Étudiante continued to demand the platform's abolition. The government planned to present initial proposals on October 26, with further consultations beyond that date.

On October 26, after receiving more than 100,000 contributions, Geffray and Baptiste presented a broader package.

The government committed to capping classes at 28 students in seconde, the first year of general and technological high school. The limit would begin in the least advantaged half of high schools in September 2027 and extend to the remaining schools in September 2028.

To support the changes, the government said it would cancel planned secondary-school teaching cuts and create 500 additional teaching posts in the 2027 budget. It also proposed 500 school psychology, nursing, and social-work posts, 200 more than already planned.

For buildings, the package included up to €4 billion in preferential renovation loans through 2030 and a separate €1 billion university-renovation program through 2029.

The government also committed to changing Parcoursup for the 2027 admissions round and replacing it in 2028. Students and teachers would participate in developing the replacement, with initial recommendations expected by the end of November. Alongside those changes, ministers promised 15,000 additional higher-education enrollment spots across 2027 and 2028, mostly in vocational and technical programs, and student grants linked to inflation from the 2027 academic year.

The announcements gave the movement a substantial government response to react to. They also created questions about implementation, funding, and how the future admissions system would run. Replacing Parcoursup would not, by itself, remove bias from the system.

The government's consultation process continued alongside the independently organized student assemblies. Official student representatives and ministries were establishing one channel for discussion, while mobilized students were developing another through school assemblies and national coordination meetings. The question was no longer just about which demands would be addressed, but how the students making the demands would participate in the decisions.

Sources for this section: Ministère de l'Éducation nationale · Région Île-de-France · Région Île-de-France · Ministère de l'Éducation nationale · Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Espace · Le Monde.

Policing becomes another grievance

As the number of student protest participants increased, demonstrations became more contentious. Police intervened repeatedly at school blockades and during marches. Authorities reported thousands of arrests during the movement, including many minors.

On October 5, a 15-year-old boy lost his left hand after a police grenade exploded during a confrontation near Lycée Auguste-Béhal in Lens. Prosecutors opened an investigation, assigned to France's national police inspectorate, to establish the circumstances of the injury and whether there was any unlawful police conduct. On October 9, the prosecutor said almost all witnesses supported the account that the boy had picked up the grenade and that its launch followed the prescribed procedure. The boy formally denied picking it up. The investigation remained ongoing.

On October 14, the family filed a further complaint alleging intentional violence resulting in permanent disability and seeking the appointment of an investigating judge.

Other students also sustained serious injuries. Police and government officials reported injuries among officers and school personnel, as well as attacks involving fireworks, projectiles, and damage to schools.

For some students, policing became an additional reason to demonstrate, separate from the staffing shortages and school conditions that had prompted the original protests.

By October 13, the movement's nationwide demonstrations drew approximately 161,500 people according to the Interior Ministry, while student organizations estimated 480,000. The continuing mobilization was now being shaped by both the original educational demands and the confrontations occurring during the protests themselves.

Sources for this section: TF1 Info / M.G. with AFP · La Voix du Nord · Le Monde · AFP / Boursorama.

Another protest arrives

As the school demonstrations were expanding, a different call to action was circulating online.

In September, social-media posts began promoting October 17 as a date for a return of France's Yellow Vest movement. The Yellow Vests had emerged in 2018 in opposition to fuel taxes before expanding into broader demands concerning rising costs, inequality, taxation, and political representation. The 2026 call reflected renewed anger over fuel costs and household expenses.

France's CGT labor union and other worker organizations were also mobilizing over wages, pensions, purchasing power, and public-service funding. Their demands were connected to the broader economic pressures facing households and the government's proposed 2027 budget.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's budget proposal seeks an approximately €54 billion fiscal adjustment to reduce France's projected deficit from 5.4% of GDP in 2026 to 5% in 2027. That total includes €43 billion in new measures alongside the effects of decisions already made. Government officials argue that restraint is necessary as national debt and interest costs increase. Unions and protesters question how already-strained public services can improve under those financial constraints.

The approaching October 17 mobilization unified the separate campaigns toward a common date. Students, workers, and Yellow Vest participants shared some concerns, particularly regarding public services and living costs, and now they had a day to act together.

On Saturday, October 17, approximately 550,000 people joined demonstrations across France, according to the Interior Ministry. Organizers estimated 800,000. The demonstrations involved students, parents, teachers, workers, Yellow Vest participants, and political organizations. Each of the groups shared overlapping concerns and acted on them in the largest demonstration of the movement. Many marches proceeded peacefully.

Other gatherings were accompanied by serious violence.

In Paris, masked groups attacked shops, built barricades, and clashed with police. In Lyon, a tourist office was set on fire. In Limoges, the historic town hall was severely damaged by fire. Marseille saw attacks on shops and a municipal police station, and an intrusion into City Hall, where a marble bust of Marianne, the female personification of the French Republic, was overturned.

Authorities attributed significant portions of the violence to radical far-left groups and looters.

President Emmanuel Macron condemned the attacks and pledged to prevent further destruction. Authorities introduced curfews in several areas, increased security operations, and announced restrictions on upcoming demonstrations.

Alongside the original disputes over schools, wages, and public spending, the movement now faced another question: where its next demonstrations would be permitted to take place.

Sources for this section: Gouvernement français · Ville de Limoges · Ville de Lyon · TV5MONDE with AFP · TF1 Info · Mediapart / Pierre Jequier-Zalc and Laura Wojcik · Le Monde / Pixels · TVA Nouvelles with AFP · Ministère de l’Économie.

Organizing for what comes next

On October 18, representatives of the Coordination nationale lycéenne, a national high-school student coordination body, met in Paris to plan the next stage of the movement.

According to the group's communiqué, about 100 students representing assemblies in more than two dozen cities attended. Delegations came from across France, including Nantes, Toulouse, Rennes, Bordeaux, Marseille, Lyon, Strasbourg, and Lille.

The coordination supported the creation of school committees, local assemblies, regional networks, and delegations elected to attend future national meetings. These structures were intended to allow students to formulate demands and coordinate subsequent demonstrations without relying exclusively on established student unions or political parties.

Its demands included limiting class sizes to 25 students, increasing school personnel and resources, ending Parcoursup, addressing educational inequality, and challenging arrests and prosecutions linked to the demonstrations.

The organizations were also planning around the school calendar. The autumn school holidays in mainland France began on October 17, with classes due to resume on November 2, making daily school blockades harder to sustain. The coordination called for demonstrations during the break and renewed mobilization after students returned.

Labor unions said Lecornu's October 21 talks had not answered their demands, particularly those concerning purchasing power. The CGT and other organizations maintained their plans for a November 5 strike.

Meanwhile, the government was determining how demonstrations would proceed after the violence of October 17. On October 22, Macron said prefects should prohibit non-union demonstrations wherever possible and propose alternative routes to trade-union organizers to protect shops and public buildings.

The restrictions led to disputes between organizers and authorities over where demonstrations could take place. France's highest administrative court found that Macron's remarks had not established a nationwide ban on non-union demonstrations. Local authorities could still restrict individual marches on public-safety grounds, and in Paris, police imposed a new route for the October 24 demonstration.

The protests continued. On October 24, the Interior Ministry counted 410,000 demonstrators nationwide, including 110,000 in Paris. The CGT estimated nearly 800,000 across France. Large marches proceeded peacefully, although clashes and property damage occurred in several cities.

Two days later, the government's education commitments gave student organizations something to measure against their demands. The differences were substantial. The government's proposed limit of 28 students in certain classes fell short of the national student coordination's demand for 25. Its commitment to 15,000 additional higher-education places was far below the 250,000 sought by L'Union Étudiante. And replacing Parcoursup would still leave the rules governing university admissions to be determined.

The movement was already preparing its next actions. Student representatives planned another national coordination meeting for October 29, while Yellow Vest organizers called for demonstrations on October 31. With schools reopening November 2, students are preparing to resume their mobilization and join the November 5 labor strike over wages, public services, and the national budget.

At Saint-Exupéry, students had returned to class. Nationally, the government had committed to changes in staffing, class sizes, school renovations, and university admissions, some extending into 2028.

The protests had begun with a shortage of staff at one school. Six weeks later, hundreds of thousands had joined demonstrations, students had established national organizing structures, and the government had announced reforms. The next decisions belonged to the organizations that had brought them together: which concessions were sufficient, which demands remained, and how they would continue pursuing them.

Sources for this section: Coordination nationale lycéenne, republished by Paris-luttes · Service Public / DILA · Le Monde live · TV5MONDE with AFP · Service Public / DILA · CFDT Fonction publique · Sundep-Solidaires · Ministère de l’Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l’Espace · Coordination nationale lycéenne / NPA Jeunes · Ministère de l’Intérieur · CGT · Conseil d’État · Mobilisation Gilets Jaunes.