PARIS — About 400 schools and other educational establishments in France are expected to remain closed on Friday after student protests over education-related grievances turned violent in several locations.

The protests, which began in the Paris region last month over teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings, have become increasingly violent as they spread nationwide. Dozens of people have been injured, and police have made hundreds of arrests. The breadth of Friday's closures, touching establishments across the country, underscores how far the unrest has moved from the Paris region where it began.

“There is an active and violent minority (participating in the protests) … We’re not entirely sure that they are even high-school students themselves,” Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin told RTL radio on Friday. He said 2,000 people had been arrested since the protests began, with about two-thirds placed in police custody. His uncertainty about who is taking part sits against the movement's beginnings among high-school students last month.

“We have gone from high-school student demonstrations to a public-order disturbance. When people target buses and set schools on fire, it is no longer simply a protest issue,” Darmanin said.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray said in an interview with France 2 on Thursday evening that “a little over 400 schools and other educational establishments” would remain closed on Friday.

Hard-left involvement alleged

According to a source close to Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, intelligence agencies told a crisis meeting on Thursday that politicians from the hard left, including members of La France Insoumise (LFI), had initiated the protest movement. LFI lawmaker Louis Boyard denied the claim in comments to French broadcasters, leaving the movement's origins publicly contested between the government's account and the lawmaker's denial.

Student protesters started fires at at least two high schools on Thursday, officials said. In the southern city of Marseille, teachers were inadvertently splashed with petrol at a third school. At least one car was torched in Strasbourg in eastern France, while riot police clashed with youths in Toulouse in the southwest.

The unrest also spread across the border. Some high school students in the Belgian city of Liège began protesting on Thursday. Local media reported that authorities in Liège had announced that all schools in the city would close on Friday, although a municipal spokesperson did not immediately confirm the closures. Confirmation from Liège officials remained outstanding heading into Friday, leaving the scope of the shutdown in the Belgian city unclear.

Original source — Reuters