Hundreds Of Schools Shut Down As Students Riot

Paris is burning, but this time, the kids are holding the matches.

What started as a teenage tantrum over hot classrooms and missing teachers has exploded into full-blown chaos across France. Masked high school students and leftist agitators have turned Parisian schools and suburban schoolyards into war zones, hurling Molotovs, torching entrance halls, and fighting with riot police.

By Friday, the riots had crippled the nation’s education system. Government officials reported that education at more than 560 high schools had been completely shut down or disrupted, according to AFP. On Thursday, nearly 1,000 schools had been affected, with more than 160 forced to lock their doors entirely as violence spread from the working-class Parisian suburbs to major hubs like Marseille, Rennes, Nantes, Lyon, and Lille. The chaos even spilled across the border into Belgium, where teens targeted classrooms in Liège.

Teenage rioters clad in black hoods and balaclavas stacked trash cans, bicycles, and wooden pallets outside school gates, dousing them in gasoline and setting them ablaze. In southern Paris, firefighters scrambled to put out flames gutting the entrances of the Léonard de Vinci and Gaston-Bachelard high schools. In Nantes, the Lycée Nelson Mandela was set on fire after violent instigators ambushed school officials. In Marseille, a principal and his deputy were splashed with gas while mobbed by protesters filling canisters. One leftist used a makeshift blowtorch on a woman’s face.

France in total chaos. pic.twitter.com/UBg0x3vxV3

— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) October 2, 2026

Law enforcement officials revealed that roughly 2,000 agitators have been swept into custody, with a staggering 90% of them being minors. More than 300 law enforcement officers have been injured. At least 65 school staff members have been wounded, including 40 high school principals, some of whom were assaulted or harassed.

Roughly 170 students have suffered injuries during the violent standoffs, while upwards of 100 campuses have suffered severe structural damage.

French officials say the riots have been hijacked by organized thugs.

Education Minister Édouard Geffray blasted the chaos, declaring that the student body is being “held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups” and warning parents that their kids are in grave danger. Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin announced he has ordered prosecutors to make parents legally liable and force them to pay out of pocket for the destruction their children caused.

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu convened an emergency crisis meeting, ordering cabinet ministers to cancel their travel plans.

Government authorities accused the radical-Left France Unbowed (LFI) party, led by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of being behind the escalation. LFI officials dismissed the allegations as “conspiracy theories.”