France gripped by spreading student protests as PM calls crisis meeting

France’s prime minister convenes a crisis meeting and cancels ministers’ trips to focus on the nationwide spread of protests, some violent, by high school students venting against under-resourced schools, long hours and other complaints.

The demonstrations erupted in Paris-region schools last week and have snowballed, with police making hundreds of arrests in clashes with the young protesters. Authorities report many dozens of injuries, including from hurled objects but also, in some suspected cases, from police riot-control projectiles.

The protests are quickly blowing up as a hot topic in the election campaign to replace President Emmanuel Macron next May, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term, and are heightening pressure on the government also beset by France’s growing financial problems.

Far-left presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Mélenchon has decried the government response to the protests as repressive. His critics have accused Mélenchon’s party of seeking to use the unrest to score points in the presidential campaign and of inciting violence.

The office of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu says he asked ministers to cancel any planned official trips in the coming days, to enable authorities and police to focus on dealing with the demonstrations.