School protests sweeping France cause 'heaviest toll in decades'

STRASBOURG/LYON/PARIS — Demonstrations swept across France on Tuesday as teachers and parents took to the streets with high school pupils on the biggest day of what Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu described as the most violent student demonstrations in decades. Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse violent groups on the fringes of marches in Paris, Strasbourg, Rennes and Toulouse, among other cities. The marches drew more than 250,000 people in dozens of cities, the interior ministry said, though organisers said 450,000 had participated. The protests, in which a teenager lost a hand on Monday, were the latest manifestation of public anger in a country where support for populist parties on the far right and far left has surged ahead of a presidential election in the spring. The government is under pressure to tame public debt amid weak growth, and has struggled with basic tasks such as passing a budget since President Emmanuel Macron's allies lost their majority in a 2024 parliamentary vote. Lecornu told lawmakers at least 215 teenagers and 85 school staff had so far been