High school students dissatisfied with public education have taken to the streets simultaneously across various parts of France, setting fires, blockading schools, and leading to ongoing clashes with the police.

As school classes are disrupted and confusion mounts, French authorities are on high alert, while the political circle is also closely watching whether the high school student protests will spread into solidarity with labor union strikes.

AFP, the British daily Guardian, and other media outlets reported that high school students staged fierce protests at hundreds of schools across France on the 29th (local time), confronting police in various locations.

In the northern region of Lille, masked high school students gathered in front of schools to set fire to trash cans, damaged facilities such as bus stops and billboards, and threw pieces of paving stones and bottles at the police.

In the western region of Nantes, high school students piled up dozens of trash cans to block school access roads.

Protests also took place in Marseille, Bordeaux, and Lyon.

These students are raising grievances over class hours, classroom sizes, and teacher shortages, and have also expressed anger that classrooms were left overheated during the heat wave this summer.

At a school in central Paris, 80 students gathered and chanted slogans claiming that school hours are longer than sleeping hours.

In response, police fired tear gas and wielded batons in an attempt to disperse the crowd.

In the process, about 440 people have been arrested as of this day, and injuries have broken out continuously among both high school students and police officers.

The protests began in areas around Paris last week and have since spread, taking place at 400 out of 3,700 schools nationwide.

Among these schools, 40 were blockaded, and 44 experienced blockade attempts.

At a school near Paris, teachers were seen surrounding the students to protect them from the police.

French education authorities have defined the protest situation as acts of violence and warned of a strong response.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray wrote on X, "Legal proceedings have been initiated regarding these actions," adding, "Such violence is indescribably severe."

He further warned, "Justifying this or inciting blockades puts students and public institution officials at risk and is irresponsible."

The political circle is also on high alert regarding the fallout from the protests.

This comes as union protests and strikes continue in opposition to the budget pushed by Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, a close aide to President Emmanuel Macron.

Union street marches continue in major cities including Paris, and 10 percent of teachers nationwide have joined the strike.

Victoire, a 16-year-old student who joined the protests, said, "We are children from the outskirts, abandoned and neglected," pointing out that the school environment is unsanitary.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)