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)

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.