Student protests in France have intensified and spread across the country after beginning in Paris in late September, then spilling over into many cities, with school closures, street demonstrations, arson attacks and clashes with police. CNBC reported on October 6, 2026, that the Justice Ministry said 5,060 people had been arrested, and 87% of them were minors. Education Minister Edouard Geffray disclosed that 190 students were injured, with reports that a 15-year-old boy lost his hand in clashes with riot police in the northern city of Lens. The protests began with student discontent over teacher shortages, long class hours and dilapidated school buildings, forcing hundreds of schools nationwide to shut down. The crisis comes as the government of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has almost no fiscal room to increase education spending, as it prepares to negotiate the 2027 budget amid political divisions and economic pressure. French Finance Minister Roland Lescure said the government aims to adjust its overall fiscal position by 54 billion euros, or about 60.7 billion dollars, part of which will come from freezing the pay of public-sector employees, including teachers. The budget problems are also adding pressure to the French government bond market, with the yield on 10-year French government bonds up 129 basis points since the start of the year, while the euro has fallen to a 17-month low against the US dollar. The situation is all the more significant ahead of France's 2027 presidential election, with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, currently the front-runner in polls, warning that if the public does not choose major political change, France may be heading toward a de facto default. She has proposed a multi-pronged fiscal recovery plan, from scrapping more than 120 taxes deemed unnecessary, adjusting some parts of the pension system, capping France's net contribution to the European Union budget at 5 billion euros, and tackling aggressive tax planning by multinational companies. She says these measures would bring France's budget deficit below the 3% of GDP threshold within 18 months and generate total budget savings of about 140 billion euros by 2032. France is currently under the European Union's Excessive Deficit Procedure, having run a deficit as high as 5.1% of GDP last year, while public debt rose to 119% of GDP at the end of June. However, Ian Bremmer, president and founder of Eurasia Group, believes that while Le Pen wants major budget cuts, she at the same time does not want to raise taxes or touch major welfare spending, which accounts for more than 50% of French expenditure, leaving that goal facing severe constraints. Ken Egan, director of sovereign ratings at KBRA, said the widening spread on French bonds reflects both concerns about the fiscal direction and a risk premium from political uncertainty.