French teens clash with police as school blockades spread

French high school students clashed with police on Tuesday as blockades at several schools continued, angering the government while unions prepared nationwide protests against a cost-cutting budget.

High school students began staging protests outside their schools last week over issues including timetables, class sizes and a teacher shortage. Some blocked entrances with rubbish bins and set them on fire.

The movement started around Paris in the Ile-de-France region, where education authorities reported blockades at some 10 lycees on Tuesday. Those institutions cover the last years of schooling in France. The action has since reached other cities nationwide.

Teens piled up dozens of bins to prevent entrance to the Lycee Gabriel Guist'hau in the western city of Nantes. In Paris, 30 students and police faced off at the Arago school in an uneasy standoff. Similar actions were also reported in cities including Marseille in the south and Lyon in the southeast.

At the Lamartine school in Paris, around 80 students gathered outside brandishing slogans including "more hours of lessons than sleep" and "8:00 am to 6:00 pm, are we pupils or under arrest?"

The actions came as unions planned a day of nationwide demonstrations and also strikes over the budget of Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron.

Tens of thousands are set to rally in Paris and other cities, with teachers and firefighters striking nationwide, although public transport was not badly affected.

Sophie Binet, head of the hardline CGT union, told BFM TV: "The anger is immense. I warn the government, it must address the demands and revise the draft budget, which is dangerous for the country and is driving us straight into the wall of recession at 200 kilometres an hour.”

One 17-year-old pupil at the Lamartine school, who asked not to be named, said they had been angered by a lack of resources, overheated classrooms and overly congested timetables. "We are also there to support our teachers who have a crazy amount of work compared to what they earn," the student told Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu stated on Monday that further escalation of demonstrations at high schools would be "irresponsible" and lashed out at the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party for fueling the movement.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said 164 arrests took place on Monday and 180 schools were affected, adding: "We cannot tolerate excesses."