Riots spread from Paris’s immigrant suburbs across France

France struggled to contain riots that grew out of school protests in Paris suburbs with large immigrant populations, with schools set ablaze, police attacked and around 5,000 people arrested.

Saint-Denis, Aubervilliers and Pantin were among the centers of the unrest in Seine-Saint-Denis, northeast of Paris. Immigrants accounted for roughly 32% of the department’s population in 2020–2021, according to national statistics agency INSEE. French-born residents with at least one immigrant parent accounted for a further 32%.

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said most of those arrested since Monday were teenagers. About 400 high schools remained closed Friday. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said 65 education staff members had been injured, including 40 principals.

In Paris, a group chased a female police officer, knocked her to the ground and struck her during a high school demonstration Thursday. Footage captured shouts of “kill her.” Prosecutors opened an investigation. Nuñez said 305 police officers and gendarmes were injured during Thursday’s unrest.

A school was set ablaze in Nantes, while another suffered fire damage in Le Havre. In Pantin, protesters burned barricades and threw firecrackers at riot police. A youth sprayed gasoline at a teacher in La Ciotat, near Marseille, according to the regional education authority.

France’s suburbs have repeatedly been the starting point for nationwide unrest involving young people from immigrant families. In 2005, three weeks of riots followed the deaths of two teenagers of African descent hiding from police in an electricity substation. In 2023, the police killing of Nahel Merzouk, a teenager of North African descent, triggered another wave of violence.

The current protests began purportely over teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and deteriorating school buildings. Students in Aubervilliers described missed lessons and demanded the same educational opportunities as pupils elsewhere.

The government said the movement had developed into urban violence and accused France Unbowed and allied far-left groups of organizing it. The party denied the allegation and said it supported peaceful demonstrations.