Students are demanding more teachers, smaller classes and improvements to deteriorating school buildings. The movement began in poorer Paris suburbs before spreading nationwide, forcing hundreds of schools to close.
Police have arrested 6,500 people over more than two weeks of protests, most of them minors with no previous criminal record. Amnesty International has accused authorities of using disproportionate force against minors. France suspended police use of stun grenades at student demonstrations on Wednesday after a 15-year-old lost his hand in an explosion in Lens.