France student protests spread from Paris, with violent clashes forcing hundreds of high schools to close. Paris — French high school students lit fires outside schools and faced off with police on Friday as a protest movement that has forced the closure or disrupted education at more than 560 establishments showed no sign of abating. The movement, which began last week in the Paris region and rapidly spread nationwide, has seen teenage pupils in their final years of high school block access to buildings and clash with police. "For a whole year, we didn't have a science teacher. We don't have any textbooks," said Simon, a 15-year-old who declined to give his surname outside the Turgot high school in central Paris. Education Minister Edouard Geffray said "the high school student movement is being held hostage by ultra-violent fringe groups.". His ministry said Friday that education had been disrupted at more than 560 high schools out of the 3,700 in the country.