France student protests spread from Paris, with violent clashes forcing hundreds of high schools to close

Paris — French high school students lit fires outside schools and faced off with police on Friday as a protest movement that has forced the closure or disrupted education at more than 560 establishments showed no sign of abating. The movement, which began last week in the Paris region and rapidly spread nationwide, has seen teenage pupils in their final years of high school block access to buildings and clash with police. The students say their school hours are excessively long, conditions inadequate including overheated classrooms and dilapidated buildings, and that there are too many staff absences."For a whole year, we didn't have a science teacher. We don't have any textbooks," said Simon, a 15-year-old who declined to give his surname outside the Turgot high school in central Paris. "And still, we're the lucky ones. It's even worse in the suburbs."