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More than 1,000 people have been injured since high school protests over learning conditions began across France in mid-September, while 30,000 students are unable to attend classes in person because of damage to schools, officials said Wednesday.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray told the National Assembly that 215 students and 88 education staff members had been injured since the mobilizations began, according to broadcaster BFMTV.
Figures from Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu's office, cited by Le Figaro, showed that another 715 police officers and gendarmes had been injured.
Geffray said the vast majority of student injuries were caused by "reckless behavior or mortar fire."
He added that "a little less than half" of the injured education staff were principals or deputy principals, who he said had in many cases been "deliberately targeted."
"We have never seen this before," Geffray said.
Geffray said 24 high schools had been set on fire or vandalized so severely that they could not immediately reopen.
"As a result, 30,000 high school students are unable to attend classes in person," he said, describing the disruption as "enormous harm" to their education.
Several hundred other schools were also seriously damaged, with the estimated cost reaching at least €20 million to €30 million ($22 million to $33 million), Geffray said.
The Education Ministry said classes were fully or partially suspended at 459 schools Wednesday, according to BFMTV.
On Tuesday, 891 of France's 3,700 high schools had classes "fully or partially suspended, for all reasons combined," the ministry said.
The High School Students' Union and the Student Union called for blockades to continue Wednesday and for new marches Thursday as part of an "Act IV" mobilization in Paris and other cities.
Students continued demonstrations and blocked entrances at several schools in Nice, Paris and Lyon on Wednesday.
In the Lyon region, 11 people had been injured since the start of the day, while 21 educational institutions were affected.
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said police would suspend the use of stun grenades during student demonstrations after a 15-year-old protester earlier lost a hand.
"I asked yesterday that these grenades no longer be used as part of the high school students' movement," Nunez told broadcaster RTL.
He also said France's police oversight body, the IGPN, had opened 18 investigations into acts of violence during the protests.
"These judicial investigations are ongoing and will determine whether or not these actions were proportionate," Nunez said.
While saying police intervention remained necessary during violent incidents, he stressed that responses should be proportionate.
"You do not manage a high school students' movement in the same way as you manage a movement of adults," he said.
Nunez said President Emmanuel Macron, following a meeting Tuesday, had asked him and Geffray to show greater empathy and provide more explanation about the government's approach.
"The president recalled the need to maintain order and intervene whenever there is serious violence, while asking us to act with the greatest proportionality," Nunez said.
According to Interior Ministry figures, 6,547 people have been arrested since Sept. 28.
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