France‘s prime minister convened a crisis meeting on Thursday and cancelled ministers’ trips to focus on the nationwide spread of protests, some violent, by high school students venting against under-resourced schools, long hours and other complaints, AP reported.
The demonstrations erupted in Paris-region schools last week and have snowballed, with police making hundreds of arrests in clashes with the young protesters.
Authorities have reported many dozens of injuries, including from hurled objects but also, in some suspected cases, from police riot-control projectiles.
The protests are quickly blowing up as a hot topic in the election campaign to replace president Emmanuel Macron next May and heightening pressure on the government also beset by France‘s growing financial problems.
The office of prime minister Sébastien Lecornu said he asked ministers to cancel any planned official trips in the coming days, to enable authorities and police to focus on dealing with the demonstrations.
AFP reported that some 340 demonstrations were underway late morning, with police forces deployed to several schools.
University students joined in on Thursday, blocking physical access to around 30 campuses, including in Paris and the southern city of Marseille, a student union said.
In the northeastern city of Strasbourg, authorities ordered trams to grind to a halt to “restrict the movements of rioters and demonstrators”, the regional prefect said.
In the northern city of Lille, AFP reporters saw young people wearing black hoodies destroy the glass of a bus stop. Firefighters intervened to put out the flames on upturned dustbins set on fire.
What started as a nationwide student protest over the state of the French education system has now descended into full-blown “urban violence”, according to government officials, who briefered the media, including BFMTV and Le Figaro.
The authorities believe the protests and riots are supported by far-left groups, who seek to sow discord.
In public comments, education minister Édouard Geffray called the reported violence “extremely serious,” and saying they cannot be justified in any way.
Justice minister Gérald Darmanin has called a meeting with all regional prosecutors for later this evening to discuss their response.
But the far-left France Unbowed party’s coordinator, Manuel Bompard, rejected the accusations as “conspiracy theories.”
France‘s prime minister convened a crisis meeting on Thursday and cancelled ministers’ trips to focus on the nationwide spread of protests, some violent, by high school students venting against under-resourced schools, long hours and other complaints, AP reported.
The demonstrations erupted in Paris-region schools last week and have snowballed, with police making hundreds of arrests in clashes with the young protesters.
Authorities have reported many dozens of injuries, including from hurled objects but also, in some suspected cases, from police riot-control projectiles.
The protests are quickly blowing up as a hot topic in the election campaign to replace president Emmanuel Macron next May and heightening pressure on the government also beset by France‘s growing financial problems.
The office of prime minister Sébastien Lecornu said he asked ministers to cancel any planned official trips in the coming days, to enable authorities and police to focus on dealing with the demonstrations.
After France’s Emmanuel Macron and Spain’s Pedro Sánchez yesterday, Poland’s foreign minister Radosław Sikorski is the latest EU leader to offer his take on Britain’s renewed push to reset its relationship with the European Union, a decade on from Brexit.
In a post on X aimed partially at his domestic opponents ahead of Poland’s 2027 parliamentary election, he said:
“If [Britain] were to apply for a return to [the EU], which Poland would welcome with open arms, it would mean that after a decade of analyses, London has concluded that membership is the optimal form of participation in the single market.
Let us not be swayed by the Europhobes into believing that a better alternative exists.”
Ukrainian troops have regained ground in a counteroffensive in the Donetsk region, according to an AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
Operation “Vivaldi” was launched in September with the aim of pushing Russian forces back from the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.
The Ukrainian military has retaken small patches of territory from Russia, for total gains in the Donetsk region of 172 square kilometres (66 square miles), an area more than 1.5 times the size of Paris.
Elsewhere, Ukraine retake small areas in the regions of Kharkiv in the north (seven square km) and the eastern regions of Dnipropetrovsk (12 square km) and Luhansk (13 square km).
By contrast, Russian offensives in Zaporizhzhia (south) and Sumy (north) enabled Kremlin forces to seize 104.5 square km and 20 square km respectively.
Overall, Ukraine made a net territorial gain of 80 square km in September, according to the data.
The European Commision and Ukraine have said in a joint statement they had “identified the means” to cover Kyiv’s budget and defence needs for this year. It read:
Today through coordinated joint efforts, we have identified the means to cover Ukraine’s budget and defence needs for 2026. We have also reconfirmed the steps needed to ensure their timely release.
While that press conference was going on, AFP have reported that Finnish authorities are investigating a slew of suspected break-ins at the homes of members of parliament, which the prime minister said could “very likely” be linked to a foreign power.
Petteri Orpo said “If someone tries to destabilise Finland, our sense of security, or our support for example for Ukraine, it has the opposite effect. It strengthens our unity.”
Speaker of parliament Jussi Halla-aho confirmed that parliament had been made aware of a “significant” number of break-ins and signs of attempted intrusions at the homes of several politicians.
It’s a determined show of unity from Nato’s Rutte, the Netherlands’s Jetten, and Germany’s Merz.
The signal is clear and in line with the warnings of recent weeks: while there is no imminent threat of a military attack from Russia, Moscow’s “campaign of hostile actions” against allies would persist over the winter.
And the three leaders reiterated the urgency in accelerating defence planning, and the importance of supporting Ukraine as the situation there worsens.
Nato’s Rutte thanks Germany and the Netherlands for increased defence spending.
He says:
“I hope Putin gets the message. It’s not just Ukrainians who are suffering. The whole of Russia is paying a huge price for his war of choice.
Putin is sending tens of thousands of young Russians to their death each month, and for nothing. He is failing on a battlefield and he is failing to intimidate us.”
The three leaders take no questions after their statements.
Nato’s Rutte is speaking now.
He says the three leaders just met the soldiers of the 1st German-Netherlands Corps, and thanks them for their service.
He also thanks for the 2026 International Westphalian Peace Prize that he will pick up later today on behalf of the alliance. He credits all soldiers and people working for Nato.
He then turns to Russia as he says:
“We see Russia testing us across Europe, airspace violations, arson, sabotage, and of course, the Russian hybrid attack at Leipzig airport in August.
But while we see no imminent military attack against Nato, we must be prepared for Russia’s campaign of hostile actions against allies to continue.
We must all remain vigilant.”
He repeats his regular warning that the Kremlin “is trying to divide us and to push us back from helping Ukraine.”
“My message is clear and our message is clear: keep calm, carry on and continue the support for Ukraine.”
Dutch PM Jetten is next.
He says the message of deterrence is “more vital than ever”, as Russia “poses a rapidly increasingly threat to the Nato alliance,” whether in the Baltics or in Germany, as he points to a recent drone incident in Leipzig.
“Europe needs to show what it’s made of, show that we are prepared to do whatever it takes to protect our security,” he says.
He says Europeans are “ramping up our intelligence cooperation to an unprecedented level so we can combat hybrid threats,” and “reaffirming and stepping up our support for Ukraine.”
He says the Netherlands is increasing its defence spending, too.
Germany’s Merz begins by stressing the importance of Nato, as “our continental peace order is being challenged by violent revisionism emanating from Russia.”
He says the Russian aggression on Ukraine was “unleashed by Moscow in utter disregard and contempt for law and order,” causing direct threat to Europe.
Merz says the focus remains on finding “a diplomatic solution,” even as “Moscow has so far shown no willingness to come to the negotiating table.”
He adds that Europe’s support for Ukraine will continue as “we refuse to be deterred by Moscow’s hybrid attack.”
He says the work is under way to “ensure credible deterrence” against Russia, pointing to Germany’s “determined investments” in its military and general resilience.
“We know that a good future for our country is only possible within a free, secure, and united Europe,” he says.
He also repeats his lines that Europe needs to “make Nato more European so it can remain transatlantic.”
He also stresses the importance of military cooperation between Nato member states, specifically in this context with the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, a Russian drone hit the grounds of a nuclear research facility in Kyiv, causing a fire but leaving the facility’s test reactor undamaged, Ukraine’s nuclear safety watchdog said, and AFP reported.
The regulator did not say where the drone landed or provide imagery of the attack, which happened on Wednesday.
Several of Ukraine’s nuclear sites have come under fire since Russia invaded in February 2022, raising fears of a nuclear accident.
The research reactor at the site has the capacity to generate around 10 Megawatts, around a hundredth of the generating capacity of a conventional nuclear reactor. There are four nuclear power plants in Ukraine, the largest of which was seized by Russian forces in 2022.
Nato’s Mark Rutte, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, and the Netherlands’s Rob Jetten are about to speak on a visit to see the 1st German-Netherlands Corps in Münster, Germany.
I will bring you all the key lines here, or you can watch along:
in Berlin
In other news, Jürgen Klopp has reacted with disgust to a social media debate questioning whether the Germany team he is in the process of forming are “white enough”.
Klopp said he believed there was no point in giving room to “such people and their utterances”, dismissing them as “complete nonsense”.
Asked to respond to the debate as to whether the national team were “not German enough” or “not white enough”, he said: “There is absolutely no reason to pay attention to these people. You won’t get my thoughts on this. I have little time in everyday life for idiocy – and even less on social media.”
“The great crux of our lives is that everyone is allowed to express their opinion … it’s insane when something like that exists.”
Klopp said watching sportspeople interact with each other was proof to him that mutual respect was still possible. “The world could learn a thing or two from a sports changing room … There, everyone is respected based on the facts and not discredited based on false opinions.”
Klopp, whose plans for Germany since he took over as coach in the summer have attracted huge attention, said the players he had gathered at the national team camp, including several players with a migrant background, “could not be better united than they are”.
The barrage of racist and generally offensive commentaries on social media followed Germany’s 1-0 defeat by Greece last Sunday, in the Nations League, marking the first time Greece had beaten Germany.
It is also reflective of plenty of utterances from MPs of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), the largest opposition party in the Bundestag, who have repeatedly and consistently criticised the diversity and ethnic makeup of the national team, often referring to the squad in derogatory terms such as a “politically correct mercenary force”.
