[Anchor]

Protests by French high school students demanding better learning conditions are spreading like wildfire. With adults also joining in, hundreds of thousands of people participated across France. As the protests turned violent, more than 6,500 people have been detained by police.

Paris correspondent Kwon Yeongin reports.

[Reporter]

Angry students block roads and start fires.

The streets are enveloped in thick smoke from tear gas fired by police.

Elsewhere, police swing batons to forcibly disperse students.

The high school students' protests demanding improvements to poor school educational environments spread nationwide across France on the 6th, local time.

Police estimated that 260,000 people participated in the protests, while organizers put the figure at 450,000.

[Anop / French Student: I came out because I am angry. The younger generation in France is exhausted. Some students study with 40 people in a single classroom. Some students have to stay in the hallways, and in some places, the ceilings look like they are about to collapse.]

Downtown Paris streets were also filled with more than 50,000 protesters.

Parents, teachers, university students, and adult union members supporting the student protests also joined in.

[Hortense / French University Student: We came out to support the high school students. We can never leave them alone.]

As time passed, the protests became increasingly violent, leading to physical clashes with police in various places.

A total of about 6,500 people have been detained since last week, including 478 who were arrested on the spot by police yesterday (the 6th).

Among them, prosecution procedures are underway for about 1,800 people, of whom about 1,500 are under the age of 18.

As the protests have continued for two weeks, injuries have mounted, with more than 700 police officers and over 200 students hurt.

In particular, criticism of excessive force is growing as teenage students continue to suffer serious injuries, such as losing their eyesight after being hit in the eye by police rubber bullets and having their jaws broken by tear gas canisters.

Out of 3,700 high schools nationwide, about 890 schools were closed on the 6th, and students have warned of a fourth large-scale protest on the 8th.

The French government has suspended school classes until the 9th and instructed individual schools to have dialogue sessions with students, but due to massive fiscal deficits, it lacks the capacity to invest in the educational environment, making it difficult to find a breakthrough to resolve the situation.

(Video by: Kim Si-nae | Video Editing by: Kim Ho-jin)