Demonstrators clash with riot police in France as education protests mount

School blockades and clashes intensify in France as frustration mounts over government inaction on educational needs.Police have fired tear gas at protesters blockading French high schools as tens of thousands of students and activists rally across France in a mounting wave of protests demanding government improvements to the education system.Students in Marseille, Nantes and Lyon began demonstrations on Tuesday morning, with demonstrators holding aloft signs which read “they don’t really care about us” and “survive or study”.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3France to shutter up to 500 schools as more student protests calledlist 2 of 3Teenager loses hand in blast amid French school protest clasheslist 3 of 3France’s student protests grow as hundreds of schools closeend of listIn Strasbourg, Lyon and Rennes, the protests turned violent at times, with police firing tear gas and protesters lighting fires in the streets and hurling projectiles.The protests started two weeks ago in Paris’s disadvantaged suburbs, lighting a blaze that has spread across the country. The government said that the movement has turned into urban violence and has deployed riot police to some rallies.Students chant slogans during a demonstration against under-resourced schools, in Paris on Tuesday [Teresa Suarez/AP Photo]Hand blown offOn Monday, a 15-year-old’s hand was blown off during clashes between high-schoolers and the police in northern France. The government said that around 200 to 250 protesters had thrown objects at the police.A French newspaper, La Voix du Nord said that the teenager lost his hand and part of his arm after he picked a police grenade during the protest.Nearly 2,000 high schools have been blockaded or closed for the day, according to the High School Students Union.“When the answer is violence, it means democracy is no longer working,” said Hugo Vetzel, a recent high school graduate in Strasbourg preparing to attend France’s top universities. “There is such a gap between the elites and us.”‘Troublemakers’Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler who was at a march in Paris said more groups are joining the demonstrations.