Live Updates: Students Rally in France for Second Day of Mass Protests in a Week
New York Times
N
New York Times
Original Source
Thousands of students gathered at Paris's Bastille Square on Thursday as France's education minister met with three major student groups to address their grievances. The number of closed schools dropped significantly from 900 on Tuesday to around 150, yet protests continue to spread with unions calling for a third wave of nationwide demonstrations next week.
Students Rally in France for Second Day of Mass Protests in a Week: Live Updates - The New York Times
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LiveUpdated
Oct. 8, 2026, 11:10 a.m. ET7 minutes ago
Live Updates: Students Rally in France for Second Day of Mass Protests in a Week
An enormous crowd gathered at Bastille square in Paris on Thursday afternoon, as France’s education minister met with three major student groups.
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*
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1.
Pedro Nunes/Reuters
2. Nantes
Stephane Mahe/Reuters
3. Marseille
4. Paris
Simon Wohlfahrt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
5. Paris
Pedro Nunes/Reuters
6. Paris
Simon Wohlfahrt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
7. Paris
Ségolène Le Stradic/The New York Times
8. Toulouse
Lionel Bonaventure/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
9. Paris
Thibault Camus/Associated Press
10. Nantes
Reuters
See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google
Latest
Updated
Oct. 8, 2026, 10:46 a.m. ET31 minutes ago
Mark Landler
Reporting from Paris
Here’s the latest.
Protesters demonstrating over school conditions packed into a main square in Paris on Thursday, as French officials looked for ways to ease a crisis that threatens to swell into a nationwide wave of grievance.
Just over 150 high schools were closed around France as of midday on Thursday, according to the French education ministry. That was down sharply from Tuesday, when the ministry said that nearly 900 schools were shuttered because of the student protests. The main demonstration got underway later Thursday afternoon in Paris, where an enormous crowd of mostly young people gathered at Bastille square amid a heavy police presence.
There were signs that French officials were listening to the students’ grievances. France’s education minister, Édouard Geffray, invited three major student groups to meet him on Thursday afternoon. Mr. Geffray pledged there would be no job cuts at schools, addressing one of the students’ complaints — a shortage of teachers. But the government won’t unveil its new education budget until Nov. 12, which has left many students frustrated.
The big question confronting French officials is whether other groups will now join the protests, which could alter their character and make them even more disruptive. So far, they have largely been contained to high school campuses and focused on student grievances — except for marches across France on Tuesday, when union activists rallied with the students, drawing an estimated 250,000 people, according to the Interior Ministry. Unions have called for a third day of nationwide protests next week.
The protests come at a fraught moment for France. The country faces a presidential election in April in which a far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, has a plausible path to victory. And France is in the throes of a financial crisis and fears about public debt caused yields on French bonds to spike to nearly 5 percent on Wednesday.
The students are protesting against overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of teachers and decrepit facilities. But with parlous public finances, the French government can offer students little remedy beyond continuing to suspend most classes so they can air their complaints.
“Young people’s anger doesn’t come out of nowhere,” Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in a speech to the nation on Wednesday. But he pleaded with the students to “choose their path and look to the future with confidence.”
Here’s what else to know:
* **Paris protest:** One of the wellsprings of the protests is the Paul Éluard high school, where crumbling buildings and staff shortages propelled student anger and led some of them to pull down a fence and set fires outside the campus.
* **A key suburb:** Though the protests have affected schools across the country, they have been particularly intense in Seine-St.-Denis, a suburb north of Paris where there are unusually high levels of unemployment, poverty, immigration and teacher absenteeism.
* **Far-left in focus**: The protest movement has been a double-edged sword for France Unbowed, France’s main far-left party, and its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is one of the most serious contenders for next year’s presidential election. Some of the party’s lawmakers joined blockades early on and were quickly accused by the center and right-wing parties, as well as the government, of stirring up tensions. The party has denied the accusations and criticized the government for adopting what it considered to be a heavy-handed police response.
Oct. 8, 2026, 11:07 a.m. ET10 minutes ago
Zane Irwin
Some students have compared their protests to those that swept across France in the late 1960s, which transformed the country.
So far, the demonstrations in recent weeks have been more tightly focused, and not as ideologically potent, as those that roiled France nearly 60 years ago, said Julian Bourg, a history professor at Boston College.
“That said, each major French protest movement does raise the possibility that the demands of a specific cohort may lead to more generalized protest and a broader political crisis,” he said. “That is the echo of 1968.”
Oct. 8, 2026, 10:56 a.m. ET21 minutes ago
Catherine Porter
The crowd of demonstrators in Bastille square includes many university students who told me they were moved to join the protests because of police violence against high schoolers that they had seen online. “We are used to seeing police in France beat people but they are normally adults,” said Kerra Underwood, 20, who is studying psychology. “These are kids.”
Image
*Credit...Pedro Nunes/Reuters*
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VideoInside the Student Protest Movement in France
*Tens of thousands of student protesters are accusing the French government of neglecting public schools. The New York Times spent time with one 17-year-old student to find out why so many young people are risking their safety to demand a better education.*
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!Giulia Imbert
Oct. 8, 2026, 10:39 a.m. ET38 minutes ago
Giulia Imbert
Reporting from Paris
Unions have already called for a third day of nationwide protests next week. Caroline Chevé, the secretary general of one of the main teacher unions, called on high school and university professors to join student demonstrations on Tuesday, in order “to stand by their side and to voice our own demands.”
Oct. 8, 2026, 10:00 a.m. ET1 hour ago
Ségolène Le Stradic
Reporting from Paris
I’m now at Bastille square in Paris, where crowds of mostly young people have gathered. Protesters are mostly staying put, chanting “justice nowhere, police everywhere” and “Macron, resignation.” There is a strong police presence around the square, checking the bags of people arriving to join the protest.
Video
*CreditCredit...Ségolène Le Stradic/The New York Times*
Oct. 8, 2026, 9:47 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Ségolène Le Stradic
Reporting from Paris
Not everyone supports the protesters. Thomas Chester, 24, and Vladimir Lesina, 19, two students in a higher education program taught inside the Lycée Turgot in Paris, were not happy with the blockade they found when they showed up today. “It penalizes the others,” said Lesina. “We have a curriculum to follow.” Chester, who took part in protests when he was still in high school, said the students’ claims weren’t very serious. “It’s more like a rite of passage,” he said. “I think it’s part of the high school culture to organize blockades.”
Oct. 8, 2026, 9:24 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Catherine Porter
In Paris this morning, the police charged at students bl
Skip to contentSkip to site index
Log in
Thursday, October 8, 2026
Today’s Paper
* Home
* + U.S.
+ International
+ Canada
+ Español
+ 中文
Student Protests in France
* Updates
* What to Know
* Photos
* Why Students Are Protesting
* Movement Broadens
* Far-Left Leaders
* Engulfed by Crisis
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
LiveUpdated
Oct. 8, 2026, 11:10 a.m. ET7 minutes ago
Live Updates: Students Rally in France for Second Day of Mass Protests in a Week
An enormous crowd gathered at Bastille square in Paris on Thursday afternoon, as France’s education minister met with three major student groups.
*
*
*
1.
Pedro Nunes/Reuters
2. Nantes
Stephane Mahe/Reuters
3. Marseille
4. Paris
Simon Wohlfahrt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
5. Paris
Pedro Nunes/Reuters
6. Paris
Simon Wohlfahrt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
7. Paris
Ségolène Le Stradic/The New York Times
8. Toulouse
Lionel Bonaventure/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
9. Paris
Thibault Camus/Associated Press
10. Nantes
Reuters
See more of our coverage in your search results.Encuentra más de nuestra cobertura en los resultados de búsqueda. Add The New York Times on GoogleAgrega The New York Times en Google
Latest
Updated
Oct. 8, 2026, 10:46 a.m. ET31 minutes ago
Mark Landler
Reporting from Paris
Here’s the latest.
Protesters demonstrating over school conditions packed into a main square in Paris on Thursday, as French officials looked for ways to ease a crisis that threatens to swell into a nationwide wave of grievance.
Just over 150 high schools were closed around France as of midday on Thursday, according to the French education ministry. That was down sharply from Tuesday, when the ministry said that nearly 900 schools were shuttered because of the student protests. The main demonstration got underway later Thursday afternoon in Paris, where an enormous crowd of mostly young people gathered at Bastille square amid a heavy police presence.
There were signs that French officials were listening to the students’ grievances. France’s education minister, Édouard Geffray, invited three major student groups to meet him on Thursday afternoon. Mr. Geffray pledged there would be no job cuts at schools, addressing one of the students’ complaints — a shortage of teachers. But the government won’t unveil its new education budget until Nov. 12, which has left many students frustrated.
The big question confronting French officials is whether other groups will now join the protests, which could alter their character and make them even more disruptive. So far, they have largely been contained to high school campuses and focused on student grievances — except for marches across France on Tuesday, when union activists rallied with the students, drawing an estimated 250,000 people, according to the Interior Ministry. Unions have called for a third day of nationwide protests next week.
The protests come at a fraught moment for France. The country faces a presidential election in April in which a far-right candidate, Marine Le Pen, has a plausible path to victory. And France is in the throes of a financial crisis and fears about public debt caused yields on French bonds to spike to nearly 5 percent on Wednesday.
The students are protesting against overcrowded classrooms, a shortage of teachers and decrepit facilities. But with parlous public finances, the French government can offer students little remedy beyond continuing to suspend most classes so they can air their complaints.
“Young people’s anger doesn’t come out of nowhere,” Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said in a speech to the nation on Wednesday. But he pleaded with the students to “choose their path and look to the future with confidence.”
Here’s what else to know:
* **Paris protest:** One of the wellsprings of the protests is the Paul Éluard high school, where crumbling buildings and staff shortages propelled student anger and led some of them to pull down a fence and set fires outside the campus.
* **A key suburb:** Though the protests have affected schools across the country, they have been particularly intense in Seine-St.-Denis, a suburb north of Paris where there are unusually high levels of unemployment, poverty, immigration and teacher absenteeism.
* **Far-left in focus**: The protest movement has been a double-edged sword for France Unbowed, France’s main far-left party, and its leader, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is one of the most serious contenders for next year’s presidential election. Some of the party’s lawmakers joined blockades early on and were quickly accused by the center and right-wing parties, as well as the government, of stirring up tensions. The party has denied the accusations and criticized the government for adopting what it considered to be a heavy-handed police response.
Oct. 8, 2026, 11:07 a.m. ET10 minutes ago
Zane Irwin
Some students have compared their protests to those that swept across France in the late 1960s, which transformed the country.
So far, the demonstrations in recent weeks have been more tightly focused, and not as ideologically potent, as those that roiled France nearly 60 years ago, said Julian Bourg, a history professor at Boston College.
“That said, each major French protest movement does raise the possibility that the demands of a specific cohort may lead to more generalized protest and a broader political crisis,” he said. “That is the echo of 1968.”
Oct. 8, 2026, 10:56 a.m. ET21 minutes ago
Catherine Porter
The crowd of demonstrators in Bastille square includes many university students who told me they were moved to join the protests because of police violence against high schoolers that they had seen online. “We are used to seeing police in France beat people but they are normally adults,” said Kerra Underwood, 20, who is studying psychology. “These are kids.”
Image
*Credit...Pedro Nunes/Reuters*
---
VideoInside the Student Protest Movement in France
*Tens of thousands of student protesters are accusing the French government of neglecting public schools. The New York Times spent time with one 17-year-old student to find out why so many young people are risking their safety to demand a better education.*
Advertisement
SKIP ADVERTISEMENT
!Giulia Imbert
Oct. 8, 2026, 10:39 a.m. ET38 minutes ago
Giulia Imbert
Reporting from Paris
Unions have already called for a third day of nationwide protests next week. Caroline Chevé, the secretary general of one of the main teacher unions, called on high school and university professors to join student demonstrations on Tuesday, in order “to stand by their side and to voice our own demands.”
Oct. 8, 2026, 10:00 a.m. ET1 hour ago
Ségolène Le Stradic
Reporting from Paris
I’m now at Bastille square in Paris, where crowds of mostly young people have gathered. Protesters are mostly staying put, chanting “justice nowhere, police everywhere” and “Macron, resignation.” There is a strong police presence around the square, checking the bags of people arriving to join the protest.
Video
*CreditCredit...Ségolène Le Stradic/The New York Times*
Oct. 8, 2026, 9:47 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Ségolène Le Stradic
Reporting from Paris
Not everyone supports the protesters. Thomas Chester, 24, and Vladimir Lesina, 19, two students in a higher education program taught inside the Lycée Turgot in Paris, were not happy with the blockade they found when they showed up today. “It penalizes the others,” said Lesina. “We have a curriculum to follow.” Chester, who took part in protests when he was still in high school, said the students’ claims weren’t very serious. “It’s more like a rite of passage,” he said. “I think it’s part of the high school culture to organize blockades.”
Oct. 8, 2026, 9:24 a.m. ET2 hours ago
Catherine Porter
In Paris this morning, the police charged at students bl
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Source: New York Times
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