Fires, clashes and mass arrests as student protests turn violent in France: Video

France’s student protests turned violent on Friday, with fires burning across cities, clashes between protesters and riot police and hundreds of schools disrupted as a movement over education conditions spread nationwide. The ministry of national education said 564 schools were affected on Friday, while nearly 400 high schools were expected to remain closed.Images from Paris and surrounding areas showed burning barricades and rubbish bins, while protesters confronted police in several cities. Riot police used tear gas and made arrests as authorities moved to clear blockades outside schools.The protests began last week in the Paris region over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and deteriorating school buildings before spreading across the country. More than 1,200 high schools have been disrupted or blocked at some point during the mobilisation, education minister Edouard Geffray said, according to BFMTV.Geffray said the movement had “changed in nature” and was “being hijacked by violent groups”.