As a security measure, classes will be "totally or partially" suspended in 400 to 500 high schools in France on Monday, on the eve of another day of blockades feared by the government, which denies reporting a disproportionate use of force.

Starting in mid-September from a high school in Créteil in the Paris region, the student movement - which is demanding more human and financial resources, denouncing the unfilled absences of teachers, the dilapidated state of the buildings - has spread throughout France and ignited this week, marked by a multiplication of incidents and clashes with law enforcement.

Burned-out facades, assaulted teachers... Of the country's 3,700 high schools, "between 400 and 500" had to suspend classes on Friday because the material security conditions were "not met", or because staff "were directly targeted" and "there will probably be as many on Monday, but with a partial resumption of classes", said the Minister of National Education Édouard Geffray on Sunday, on the media France 2 and France Inter.

Since the first blockades, "78 National Education staff have been injured", (...) 24 establishments have been burned or ransacked" and including damage to official accommodation, the bill probably reaches "between 20 and 30" million euros, the minister summarized.

- "High school students subjected to violence" -

Invited to a program opposite Manuel Bompard, coordinator of La France Insoumise (LFI), he again accused the radical left-wing party of having "incited the blockades" and fueled the outbreak of violence. On Thursday, the office of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu had stated that the movement was veering towards "urban violence," seeing it as a "maneuver organized by LFI and its far-left proxies."

"If anyone is responsible for this mobilization, it's you! Because this situation is the consequence of ten years of Macronist policy, of 10,000 teacher job cuts, of refusing to increase the civil servants' index point" or even "of Parcoursup, which generates anxiety," replied Manuel Bompard on Sunday, referring to the computerized guidance procedure.

He also condemned the "absolutely disproportionate" interventions of the police. "When you have a high school student who loses an eye" in a flashball shot, another "who gets a tear gas grenade in his eyes" or "a young student who is strangled for several minutes, your duty (...) is also to provide support to these violent high school students," he said.

Last week, several organizations including the Magistrates' Union (SDM), the CGT union and the League of Human Rights accused the government and the police of "repressing" youth with "disproportionate" means; faced with the great "vulnerability" of the demonstrators, essentially children," the SDM emphasized.

- 5,000 arrests -

Law enforcement "does not repress youth" but "protects" pupils and students wishing to "peacefully express their demands," responded Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez on Sunday, deploring "serious and unfounded accusations."

Since Monday, authorities have recorded more than 5,000 arrests, of which approximately 85% were minors, on the sidelines of the movement (1,700 on Friday alone).

A 16-year-old was arrested following the attack on a teacher in La Ciotat (southern France), who was doused with gasoline. Another, aged 15, suspected of having used a flaming spray in the face of a passerby in Marseille (southern France), was brought before a judge for formal charges of "an act of barbarity."

Two people were also taken into custody in Belfort (east) for participating in the beating of a police officer, but one of them himself filed a complaint for "attempted murder", his lawyer announced on Sunday.

A third "act" by the high school students is planned for Tuesday.