Young people taking part in a protest in the southern French city of Montpellier chanted “We are all children of Gaza” in solidarity with the enclave.
Footage shows students gathered in the city center carrying union and youth group flags and a banner reading “Against precarity and university selection.”
High school and university students in Montpellier staged actions this week as part of the nationwide “Bloquons tout” (Block everything) movement in defense of public services and against teacher shortages. On Sept. 29, students blocked the Jean-Monnet, Jules-Guesde, Joffre and Mermoz high schools; police cleared the blockade at Jean-Monnet with tear gas and briefly detained two 15-year-olds, France 3 reported.
Nationwide, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 1,747 people were detained on Friday, October 2, alone and more than 5,000 since Monday, September 28, in connection with high school blockades, adding that 85% of them were minors, mostly high school students. High school and university student organizations have called for the mobilization to continue, with a new day of action on Tuesday, October 6.
Protests against Israel’s attacks on Gaza have continued in France for months. France formally recognized the State of Palestine at the United Nations in September 2025.
24 high schools burned or ransacked
French Education Minister Édouard Geffray said on France Inter and France 2 on Sunday that 24 high schools had been “burned or ransacked” across France on the sidelines of the protests and blockades, and that 78 members of Education Ministry staff had been injured. He said classes would remain suspended on Monday in 400 to 500 high schools. The high school protest movement began on Sept. 17.
