Student grievances include overcrowded classes of up to 40 children in crumbling buildings, poor teacher pay, staff absences and an unequal system in which social background determined success. Other factors are an opaque and difficult online system for university applications as well as the sweltering temperatures in classrooms during heatwaves.

Protesters have accused the state of disengaging from secondary education and cited difficult conditions such as leaks, cockroaches, collapsed ceilings and decayed buildings. Others have complained about excessively long school days and a lack of teaching staff.

The government said the grievances were legitimate but condemned what it called “urban violence”. On Sunday, police detained a 16-year-old in relation to an assault of a teacher in La Ciotat, a town on the southern coast between Marseille and Toulon. The teacher, 59, was doused with gasoline and struck during a protest on Friday.

The government is also under pressure from trade unions that called a day of strikes last week to compel the new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, to rethink budget cuts and consider a form of wealth tax on the super-rich. The CGT trade union exhorted workers to sustain the pressure with demonstrations this week.

I hadn’t actually seen why the protests were happening. Makes sense now

Must be nice to live in a country with people who actually give enough of a shit.