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Riot police clash with students as education protests rage in France

Dan Sales
Getty Images An enormous fire is seen outside a school as protesters look on from behindGetty Images
A fire blazes in the street as protesting students carry out a blockade in Brest

Riot police have clashed with protesters as thousands of students demonstrating over education standards disrupted more than 700 schools in France.

Fires have burned in the streets as high school pupils and others objected to a lack of teachers, overcrowded classrooms and run-down buildings. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 1,747 people were arrested on Friday.

The protests began last week in the capital Paris and have spread across the country, with cities including Montpellier, Nantes and Marseille affected.

French Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin said things had "gone from high-school student demonstrations to a public order disturbance".

Darmanin said that 735 of France's 3,700 schools were now affected "one way or another" by the violent protests.

Announcing the arrests late on Friday, Nuñez told France's TF1 television network: "We are sliding into riot and urban violence, and we are using all intermediate means to put an end to it."

Meanwhile, Education Minister Édouard Geffray said the movement had been hijacked by non-students.

He told French broadcaster BFMTV that teachers had said "the people in front of me were not my students".

Earlier on Friday, a 17-year-old was arrested on suspicion of attempted homicide after protests in Belfort, north-eastern France, where a police officer was targeted.

BBC Verify has now authenticated two videos that show the man, who was later identified as an officer by a minister, being beaten up.

In the graphic footage, a group of young men are seen chasing him. The officer falls to the ground, and is subsequently punched and kicked multiple times in the head.

At least 65 staff members have been injured in the unrest, the education ministry said.

In the Paris suburb of Pantin police charged at protesters and made arrests after projectiles where thrown at officers.

Meanwhile, in Strasbourg tear gas was deployed as police feared conditions would become more hostile, according to the Reuters news agency.

Rubbish bins have also been set on fire in Rennes and Paris.

"As far as we're concerned, we've won - our school is closed this morning," Lola, a 16-year-old protester, told the AFP news agency on Friday.

She said police actions had made things worse.

"It makes us even angrier - the police have no right to hit us or use tear gas on us," she added.

Students and riot police on the streets of Paris
Reuters A huge plume of flames jumps across the street scene as two firefighters use extinguishers to try and bring it under controlReuters
French firefighters put out a burning barricades during protests in Aubervilliers

Police published pictures of some of the items they had seized from demonstrators, including petrol bombs, an axe and so-called mortar fireworks.

"Significant damage" had been done to school facilities, the education ministry said, after attacks on school gates, entrances and fences.

Nelson Mandela high school in Nantes suffered more than €2m (£1.7m) damage, according to the regional government, after fire destroyed its glass entrance and some areas inside the school.

The blockades and protests started last week before spreading to hundreds of schools across the country.

Students say school hours are too long, classrooms too hot and too many members of staff are off work.

It comes at a crucial time for French President Emmanuel Macron, six months before next year's presidential election.

EPA/Shutterstock Masked students face riot police in full armour in the streetsEPA/Shutterstock
High school students face off against riot police during a protest in Montpellier
Getty Images A road sign is hurled into burning wreckage in the street by a masked and hooded manGetty Images
A stop sign is thrown into a fire as protesting students create a blockade

Budget cuts planned, which will impact on education funding, have infuriated the young protesters.

Parents have also been worried that their children have become caught up in a wave of violence and unrest.

At the Claude Monet school in southern Paris, 53-year-old Anya was looking for her son.

"We banned him from coming. I hope he isn't here, but he did leave the house," she told AFP. "We're afraid the situation might escalate."

Getty Images A line of protesters in hoods and face coverings gesture at police on the streetsGetty Images
Students gesture and take photos as they face riot police officers in Paris
Reuters A protester is seen bundled to the ground with two riot police holding him as students in the background film on their mobile phonesReuters
French riot police apprehend a protester during clashes outside a Toulouse school

Darmanin said prosecutors had been asked to hold parents liable for damage caused by their children and "pay for repairs".

Many French unions have given their support to the protesting students.

Education union SNEP-FSU, public services union SNUEP-FSU and Solidaires have all called for members to support them.

Solidaires Trade Union Federation said in a statement: "Let's not let them fire on our children.

"Secondary school pupils have the freedom of assembly, association and demonstration."