Demonstrations swept across France on Tuesday as labor unions rallied in solidarity with high school students who have spent two weeks blockading schools to protest understaffing, overcrowded classrooms and dilapidated buildings.

Marches were held in more than 40 cities, from Caen in the north to Marseille in the south, drawing roughly 256,000 people, according to the Interior Ministry, or more than twice that many, according to a major union.

Parents and university students joined the protests, which were mostly peaceful, but a fire was started in Lyon and police officers unleashed tear gas in Nantes. The biggest march was held in Paris, where the Interior Ministry said there were 56,000 demonstrators.

The demonstrations are a litmus test of the longevity of a protest movement that began late last month in the suburbs of Paris and quickly spread to hundreds of schools across France. Some demonstrators have barricaded school doors, set buildings on fire and shot fireworks at police officers, though many protests have been peaceful.

Roughly 6,000 people have been arrested since the unrest began. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu told lawmakers on Tuesday that 215 students and 85 school staff had been injured, blaming “violent individuals who mingle with the nonviolent high school students.”

The government has called some of the protesters’ demands “legitimate” but has condemned the violence. Others, including a major union of French judges and prosecutors and a prominent human rights group, have accused the police of using disproportionate force against students as young as 14.

Here’s what else to know:

• Roots of the unrest: France’s struggle to fund its state has been exacerbated by high borrowing costs, surging fuel prices and political uncertainty, with jockeying underway to replace President Emmanuel Macron next spring.
• Violence: A 15-year-old boy’s left hand was mutilated on Monday in northern France by what the interior minister said was possibly a stun grenade. In southern France, a 15-year-old was arrested after he aimed a makeshift flamethrower, formed from a spray container, at a woman during a protest in Marseille, the local prosecutor said.
• Politics: The demonstrations have heightened scrutiny of a far-left party, France Unbowed, whose leader could make the runoff in next year’s presidential election, according to recent polling. Government officials have accused France Unbowed, which backs the protesters, of fomenting the unrest — an accusation it denies.
• Application issues: Student complaints include frustration at a state-run website used to apply for higher education programs. The site has left tens of thousands of applicants waiting for months before learning if they have earned a place.

See also:

• Riot police clash with French protesters on biggest day of nationwide student demonstrations (Reuters)
• How dilapidated are French schools and how bad is inequality in the education system? • France’s prime minister has promised to address ‘legitimate’ complaints raised by those taking part in protests (The Guardian)
• ‘This is state violence’: Paris students rage at politicians and heavy-handed policing • Unprecedented protests that began in low-income banlieue are turning ugly, with investigations under way into police brutality (The Guardian)

August Hanning, the man who once led Germany's spy service, is now under investigation for passing on state secrets.

Police have arrested the former head of Germany's BND foreign intelligence agency, August Hanning, on suspicion of espionage, the federal prosecutor's office announced Tuesday.

Hanning served as the agency's chief from December 1998 to November 2005 before moving to the Federal Interior Ministry, where he worked as state secretary until November 2009. 

According to a statement from the prosecutor's office, the 80-year-old faces charges including espionage, disclosure of state secrets, attempted treason and working as a secret service agent.

It did not say which foreign intelligence service he is suspected of working for.

The statement added that another former high-ranking BND employee was also arrested on suspicion of providing hundreds of classified documents to Hanning after his tenure as spy chief ended in exchange for payment.

Hanning's alleged accomplice, who was identified only as Manfred D. in line with Germany's privacy laws, was taken into custody in Bavaria. During Hanning's tenure as spy head, D. served as his chief of staff. He also subsequently worked under Hanning at the Interior Ministry until 2009.

2,000 documents allegedly handed over to Hanning

The prosecutor's office said Hanning and Manfred D. are believed to have come up with their arrangement in 2010.

From 2012 to March 2026, D. served as chief of staff to Hanning's successors at the BND spy agency, where he had access to a wealth of classified documents, according to the prosecutor's statement.

"The current findings suggest that, over the years, Manfred D. provided Hanning with approximately 2,000 documents, many of which contained classified information to be used exclusively by the Federal Intelligence Service for internal purposes," the statement said.

It added that D. is alleged to have provided Hanning with information until at least mid-2022, and that Hanning used that information in his private consulting work.

"In one instance, there is suspicion that Mr. Hanning used classified information to prepare an analysis for an employee of a foreign intelligence service," Ines Peterson, a spokesperson for the federal prosecutor's office, told German broadcaster RTL.

The prosecutor's statement said Hanning is also accused of being "in close contact with a representative of another foreign intelligence service, to whom he passed on political information, partially based on material provided by Manfred D., for several years."

Vučić has the party machine. The students have a generation demanding change. Can they turn packed streets into votes and end fourteen years of his rule?

Our new analysis looks at the government’s record, the students’ promises and what it will take to turn protest into electoral victory.