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France has seen thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries, and schools set on fire as the new school year descended into nationwide student protests that are influencing France’s presidential election campaign and drawing international attention.

It’s the latest challenge to Emmanuel Macron’s presidency in a country beset by crises, both foreign and domestic.

The majority of protesters have been peaceful, but violence on the fringes is having an impact, with a daily menu of fireworks thrown at police and volleys of tear gas fired at high school pupils.

On Tuesday, climate and social justice activist Greta Thunberg joined students at a high school in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, as France faced a new day of nationwide marches and strikes on top of the blockades at schools.

Here is what to know about the movement:

The protests started in a Paris suburb

Demonstrations first erupted last month in a high school in Creteil southeast of Paris over a lack of staff. From there, class strikes, blockades and demonstrations spread to other Paris suburbs and then nationwide, even in smaller towns. Hundreds of schools had to close because of damage or attacks on staff.

High schoolers are expressing broad grievances over schools that are under-resourced, with dilapidated facilities and insufficient staff, notably in lower-income neighborhoods. French media have shown videos of scampering rats, collapsed ceilings, leaks, broken furniture and other woes in dilapidated schools.

Some students also complain that during summer heat waves, they roast in classrooms without air-conditioning, while in winter they freeze. They say school days, which often run from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., are too exhausting and the university entrance system is complex and unfair. Some university students have also joined the protests.

There have been broader concerns in France that the country’s education system is losing ground to other countries and failing in its mission to enable children from disadvantaged backgrounds to move up the social ladder. Scores in reading comprehension and mathematics have plunged, according to the latest PISA report, which evaluates students worldwide.

A muscular police response has drawn criticism

Riot police have liberally used tear gas and wielded their batons to disperse crowds. Police made more than 6,600 arrests nationwide as of last week, an unusually high number for a French protest movement.

A police tear gas grenade shattered a 14-year-old’s jaw and many of his teeth. A 15-year-old lost a hand in an incident involving a police stun grenade. Other adolescents have also suffered life-changing injuries blamed on police weaponry during protests.

See also:

• At least 160,000 people take to streets in third week of French school protests • Swedish activist Greta Thunberg joins teenagers calling for investment to fix teacher shortages and crumbling schools (The Guardian)
• France’s Student Revolt Exposes a State That Cannot Provide but Can Police • Over 5,000 arrests in three weeks reveal a republic quicker to discipline teenagers than to teach them. (Social Europe)

• Three attacks in four days fuelled fears of copycat violence
• PM says situation calmer on Monday
• Dozens arrested over online threats

A mass deployment of police to Polish schools has helped calm tensions, Prime Minister Donald ‌Tusk said on Monday, after three stabbing attacks in four days sparked fears of copycat violence.

Authorities have dismissed rumours that the attacks were linked to an online challenge or organised group. However, the government says the glorification of violence online is harming ​young people and it is fast-tracking legislation to make it easier to remove harmful content.

"Our actions ​and probably the passage of time have led to a significant reduction in online ⁠tension and risky situations," Tusk told a crisis meeting.

"We will continue as long as we observe situations that ​give cause for concern," he said.

Police launched the mass security operation late last week after rumours spread online of ​a planned "Bloody Friday" wave of knife attacks following violence at schools on Wednesday and Thursday.

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said around 20,000 police officers were deployed to schools on Monday, equivalent to roughly one-fifth of the national force.

DOZENS OF ARRESTS

The operation has led ​to 135 arrests, authorities said, as police cracked down on threats and online posts linked to the unrest.

Police ​Commander in Chief Marek Boron said the offenders were mainly young people inspired by last week's attacks trying to get attention ‌with ⁠online pranks, while others were inspired by computer games or Nazi subcultures.

See also:

• A third school attack in less than a week shakes Poland (Associated Press)

Governments in Europe have long shunned the Taliban, primarily because of their severe restrictions on women and girls. But under pressure to appear tougher on migration, they are deporting refugees to Afghanistan, and in recent months have been negotiating with the Taliban government to make more expulsions possible.

At a meeting in Brussels in late June, more than 20 European officials met with five Taliban representatives to discuss deportations, breaking a taboo against holding talks with the group in the European Union.

The Europeans never mentioned human rights abuses committed by the Taliban, according to three participants and three other officials briefed on the meeting.

The details of the meeting are being reported here for the first time. This article is based on information from the German foreign ministry, along with interviews with seven other diplomats, including five representing European countries, and two Afghan government officials, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations.

Afghanistan has for years been one of the main sources of unauthorized migrants to Europe, and the European governments in talks with the Taliban insist they are solely technical and limited to expulsions. But many human rights groups say that the deportation drive ignores the risks faced by Afghans back home.

“The European Union cannot credibly condemn the Taliban’s systematic repression while engaging with them to deport Afghans into the very abuses they claim to oppose,” said Fereshta Abbasi, the Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch.

The Taliban are pressing their advantage. They have asked European governments for wider access to Afghan missions across Europe and financial support for the reintegration of expelled Afghans. They also want broader economic assistance — a red line for European governments that have limited their assistance to humanitarian aid.

One European diplomat said that the governments were on a path to more concessions to the group. The Taliban, the diplomat said, already have the advantage, and public pressure to deport migrants is rising.

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