BBC reports police clashes and tear gas at French school protests
The BBC reports tear-gas use in Paris and Marseille, water-cannon use in Rennes and clashes in Lyon, but says serious trouble was limited.
What has changed? · 07/10/2026, 04:09 UTC
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Thousands of student protesters gathered at Place de la République in Lille, northern France, on Tuesday, the BBC reported. Demonstrations were continuing across France against what protesters describe as under-investment in high schools. [1]
BBC Europe correspondent Nick Beake reported a strong police presence near the Lille crowd but saw no signs of trouble where he was reporting at that point. The BBC said protesters and authorities had clashed at some demonstrations elsewhere in France over the previous week. [1]
The BBC also linked to a separate video described as showing a bin on fire at school protests in Lille. The page does not establish when it was filmed or how it relates to Beake’s observation. [1]
Update
The BBC reports that police used tear gas in Paris and Marseille and water cannon in Rennes during the French school protests. It also reports clashes between police and demonstrators in Lyon. [2]
Despite those confrontations, the BBC says there was little of the serious trouble seen at previous protests. Its report does not specify when the incidents in each city took place. [2]
The protests have spread beyond high-school pupils to parents, university students and unions, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets across France, according to the BBC. Teenagers marching from Paris’s Place de la République called for more school resources and what they described as less police repression. [2]
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