France to shutter up to 500 schools as more student protests called

French education minister cites safety concerns for closures as resumption of protests are called for by organisers.France plans to fully or partially close up to 500 schools on Monday amid a series of student protests that have become increasingly violent.Education Minister Edouard Geffray announced the precautionary measures on Sunday as part of a bid for a “partial, progressive return to lessons”. However, after a weekend lull, student protestors announced they plan to resume demonstrations – launched last month over complaints regarding class sizes, lack of teachers, and other complaints – early in the week.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4School protests spread as fires, blockades deepen unrest in Francelist 2 of 4Public workers in France strike over pay as student protests turn violentlist 3 of 4What’s behind French student protests that turned violent?list 4 of 4Protests shutter hundreds of French schools as violence flaresend of listLessons will be “totally or partly suspended” in some “400-500” high schools as the security conditions “have not been fulfilled”, the minister said. He added that 24 schools had been “burned or ransacked” since the start of the protests.Geffray said the closures were a security precaution. Protest organisers have called for a return to large-scale demonstrations on Tuesday, citing a lack of “concrete measures” from President Emmanuel Macron’s government.French students clash with police near a high school in Aubervilliers on Thursday [Tom Nicholson/Getty Images]At least 170 students and 78 educational personnel have been injured since the student demos first erupted in the Paris region in mid-September, according to Geffray.The Ministry of National Education reported that at least 400 of the 3,700 high schools in France were closed on Friday, while 560 faced protests or disruptions.The number of schools affected on Monday would be comparable to the figure from Friday, Geffray said.