Thousands protest in French high schools over conditions, police use tear gas

Tens of thousands of demonstrators have been marching in cities across France in support of protests by school pupils demanding more education funding, increasing pressure on the government of outgoing President Emmanuel Macron.

In Marseille and Nantes, protesters held up signs marked with "The state has killed national education" and other messages, in largely peaceful rallies on Tuesday, local time.

In Toulouse, parents linked arms at the front of a march through the city.

But in Strasbourg, Lyon and Rennes, the demonstrations at times turned violent, with police firing tear gas and protesters lighting fires in the streets and hurling projectiles.

The demonstrations showed how protests that began at a high school in the Paris region in mid-September have grown into a nationwide movement — the latest of many that have marked Mr Macron's nearly decade-long tenure.

In Nantes, thousands marched behind a huge banner that read: "Schools with no money, country with no future".

The interior ministry said 256,000 people protested nationwide, while union organisers put the figure at 450,000.

More than two weeks of class boycotts and school blockades, and policing that has led to more than 6,100 arrests, mostly of minors, have become a flashpoint in the early days of the presidential election campaign.

The teenage protesters have struck a chord amid widespread discontent in France.

Frustrations extend beyond immediate difficulties, such as fuel prices that have soared because of the Iran war, to broader concerns about constraints on public spending, rising poverty and wealth inequality under Mr Macron, who cannot run for a third consecutive term.

Against that backdrop, pupils' complaints that education funding shortfalls are endangering their futures have found a sympathetic audience.

"You say 'young people are the future', so listen to them," read a handwritten placard attached to a metal barrier outside a Paris school.

Some protesters have tipped rubbish bins and bicycles on their sides to create makeshift barricades.

Authorities began shutting schools last week to take some steam out of the demonstrations after widespread damage to schools and mounting injuries among staff, students and police.

Classes were totally or partially suspended on Tuesday at 891 schools, according to the Education Ministry.

Facing accusations that it was ignoring protesters, the ministry launched an online portal inviting high school students to anonymously describe the difficulties they face at school and the changes they want to see.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez defended policing methods used against high-schoolers, despite a growing list of gruesome injuries blamed on officers' riot-control weapons.

The latest was a 15-year-old boy who lost a hand on Monday in an incident involving a police stun grenade.

Mr Nuñez said the police response has been proportionate in "almost all cases".

The widespread use of arrests, tear gas and riot-control weapons against teenagers is fuelling defiance and angering some parents and teachers.

Mr Nuñez said protests transformed at times into rioting, requiring police intervention.

He said 715 officers had been injured.

Demonstrators have voiced a range of grievances, often centring on a lack of resources and opportunities for students in disadvantaged schools despite the promise of France's national motto: "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."

Students have drawn attention to rundown classrooms that lack basics such as desks and chairs, become sweltering in summer without air conditioning and, in some cases, are infested with rats.

Other common complaints include staff shortages and exhausting workloads.

French high school students' compulsory classroom hours are among the highest in Europe.