That’ll teach ’em! French school protesters are dragged away by their parents in humiliating videos
Schoolchildren whose protests have sent shockwaves through France were forced into an embarrassing climbdown after being dragged away by their parents.
France has suffered weeks of disorder and violence sparked by failing school conditions, with riot police clashing with hundreds of thousands of rioters in towns and cities across the country.
Dramatic scenes saw officers in full body armour pushing back balaclava-clad demonstrators as they dodged a barrage of stones and rocks, with officers deploying tear gas and pepper spray in a bid to disperse the crowds.
But while children’s fear of the State may be fading, fear of their parents remains.
Videos have emerged showing furious mothers and fathers reprimanding their rioting children and hauling them away from the unrest.
In one clip, a seething mother can be seen getting out of her car and sprinting towards her son as smoke billows in the background.
The mother grabs her child with her left hand, leaving her right hand free to whack him on the back while forcing him towards the vehicle. The parent then bundles her son, who towers over her, into it.
In a separate video, a mother clutches onto her disgruntled daughter’s clothes and pulls her through the crowds of pupils at a school blockade.
The fuming daughter resists and stands still but eventually gives in after making eye contact with her enraged parent.
A seething mother grabs her rioting son after sprinting out of her car
A father was captured calmly ushering his son away from the protesting students, steering him by the back of the neck. It is captioned: ‘A fair-haired, white father is coming to pick up his son’
A mother clutches onto her disgruntled daughters clothes and pulls her through the crowds of pupils at a school blockade
Elsewhere, a father was captured calmly ushering his son away from the protesting students, steering him by the back of the neck.
Screams can be heard in the background of the video, captioned ‘a fair-haired, white father is coming to pick up his son’, while officers blockade the street ahead.
Some 256,000 people are predicted to have taken to the country’s streets yesterday, France’s interior ministry said, as students joined arms with demonstrators from the country’s powerful trade unions.
This included Bally Bagayoko, the far-Left mayor of Saint-Denis, a poor Paris suburb, who was severely scrutinised after praising student rioters – and joined the front lines of the protest.
The mayor, who belongs to the La France Insoumise (LFI) party, drew criticism last week for claiming: ‘Violence can become legitimate at a certain point.’
He was seen on Tuesday confronting riot police in a suit and tie, standing side-by-side with balaclava-wearing thugs.
Parisian police said at least 300 rioters were trying to attack law enforcement, throwing rocks and fragments of pavement at them.
In Rennes, northwest France, police used water cannons against protesters.
French newspaper Le Parisien reported that some inciters were telling their Snapchat followers to ‘bring knives’ and ‘stab civilians in the crowd’ outside the Couffignal high school in Strasbourg.
Police sources told the newspaper that they had received reports concerning potential violence during blockades outside schools in the French city.
Officials reported 488 arrests on Tuesday, while lessons in 891 of France’s 3,700 lycées were completely or partly suspended.
The violent clashes have sparked a string of harrowing incidents, including one in which a 15-year-old protester had their hand blown off by a stun grenade.
Amid mounting allegations of police brutality, officials today announced they would stop firing stun grenades at protesting students.
Police spray CS gas as they clash with students on Boulevard Saint-Germain during a protest outside Sciences Po on Wednesday
Saint-Denis mayor Bally Bagayoko stood between protesters and police officers during a demonstration of high-school students in Paris on Tuesday
In Paris, police were seen using tear gas and pepper spray on protesters in the centre of the capital city on Tuesday
Thousands of students gathere as part of a nationwide protest over learning conditions on October 6, 2026
Riot police clash with demonstrators in Nantes, western France, where fires are also reported to have broken out at several schools, on October 6
French riot police officers remove elements of a burning street baricade, amid a protest in Lyon, October 6
Smoke plumes from the site of a fire in Lyon, while a firefighter attempts to extinguish the blaze, October 6, 2026
But Sebastien Lecornu, France’s prime minister, rejected accusations of ‘police repression’ during a tense parliamentary session on Tuesday, where he accused the leader of LFI, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, of intentionally fuelling unrest.
This comes as officials announced one police officer has been charged over a separate incident where a 14-year-old student was struck in the face by a tear-gas grenade launched at close range. He lost several teeth.
Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy had been arrested on Monday for allegedly taking part in a gang attack on a policewoman in Paris.
Students have been protesting failing school conditions for weeks. But discontent boiled over last week into violent clashes with police across hundreds of campuses.
Protesters walked out complaining of missing teachers, overloaded timetables, dilapidated classrooms and buildings that cannot cope with rising temperatures.
The demonstrations quickly turned into pupils lighting dustbin fires, torching bus shelters and clashing with riot police, who have in turn responded with batons, tear gas and riot-control rounds.
The government ordered schools to halt lesson time until Friday for ‘internal democracy’.
But student unions remain doubtful and have called for blockades to continue until Wednesday. An ‘Act IV’ of nationwide protests has also been ordered on Thursday.
It comes as Donald Trump blamed French student riots on ‘mass migration’ and ‘Islam wanting to take over’.
The US president waded into the debate on his Truth Social account on Tuesday evening, claiming the situation in France has become ‘out of control’.
Posting to social media, Trump said: ‘What’s happening in France is nothing less than out of control mass migration.
‘This isn’t about schools, this is about Islam wanting to take over a once great Country! President DJT.’
READ MORE: Student union warns France riots ‘WILL intensify’ if they are ‘not listened to’ despite days of violent clashes and 256,000 taking to the streets on Tuesday alone
