Ten Arrested in Liège Protests; France Closes 500 Schools

Ten people were arrested in the Belgian city of Liège on Monday 5 October 2026, as a wave of secondary-school demonstrations spread across Wallonia and around 500 schools in neighbouring France remained closed. Police described the tally of administrative arrests as provisional, while the demonstrators pointed to education spending cuts and steep rises in public-transport fares as their core grievances.

Context

According to the VRT NWS, the disturbances unfolded in front of several schools where pupils gathered to protest the French Community government’s austerity and reform plan. The demonstrations are largely spontaneous, organised through contacts between schools rather than a central body.

The primary grievance concerns the TEC public transport network, where the annual bus subscription for the under-26s is set to rise from 12 EUR to 384 EUR from 1 February. Pupils have paired this with wider objections to the savings plan pursued by the Francophone Community government of the MR and Les Engagés, which targets roughly 300 million EUR in education savings, including 10% more teaching time without compensation in upper secondary education.

Key Developments

At the collège Saint-Barthélemy on Rue Hors-Château, several hundred pupils blocked the entrance, set off firecrackers and threw eggs and buckets of water, though classes still went ahead. HLN reported that masked youths were present at the gatherings, some carrying Palestinian flags. Around 09:15 a larger group arrived at the school, prompting further fireworks.

Traffic was disrupted in both directions on the Quai Saint-Léonard because of a demonstration in front of the athénée Liège-Atlas. The fire brigade separately reported burning e-scooters in Chênée and Herstal, in the margins of the student actions. In Herstal, masked youths reportedly moved toward a school carrying fences.

Not all gatherings were confrontational. At the athénée Léonie de Waha, pupils blocked the school using rubbish bins, brandished placards and chanted slogans, but director Rudi Creeten described a “bon enfant” — good-natured — atmosphere. “We’re watching out for safety,” he said, surrounded by several teachers, adding that pupils must be heard: they lived through Covid-19 and face the climate crisis, uncertainty and difficult decisions in education. He nonetheless questioned who was behind the movement.

Liège mayor Willy Demeyer (PS) said measures had been taken so that schools could welcome pupils in a calm and safe environment, adding that police and street workers would remain on standby.

A Cross-Border Movement

On the French side of the border, the French Education Ministry reported that lessons were suspended, fully or partially, in 413 schools on Monday, according to VRT NWS. Separately, Education Minister Édouard Geffray had said on Sunday that courses would be suspended in “400 to 500” lycées where safety conditions were not met, as reported by RTBF. The lycéen movement, which began on 17 September in the Paris region, has since spread nationwide.

Violence has escalated alongside the demonstrations. In Lens, a 15-year-old student was seriously injured after trying to pick up a police grenade. In the Meurthe-et-Moselle department, nearly 1,000 pupils protested while police said they were attacked with Molotov cocktails. The Vauquelin school in Paris was evacuated after a fire was set at its entrance, one of three attempted arson attacks. Earlier in the movement, French authorities counted 1,747 arrests on Friday 2 October alone and more than 5,000 since 29 September, with 735 schools affected and violence reported near 158 of them. Geffray said 24 schools had been burned or ransacked since the movement began, and reported 78 education staff injured, including about 40 head teachers.

The two movements are linked in media framing: Belgian pupils are described as inspired by, and acting in parallel with, their French counterparts. Francophone Education Minister Valérie Glatigny (MR) warned that pupils were being “harnessed by radical movements and people from outside the institutions” — a pattern she said had “come over from France.” She insisted no measure reduces pupil support, citing 25 million EUR in extra funding for pupil support and 1 billion EUR for school buildings.

Analysis

The unrest speaks to a deeper generational strain. Political scientist François Gemenne of ULiège described a feeling that young people “are sacrificed on the altar of the boomers,” pointing to a real generational conflict. In his analysis reported by RTBF, the anger is not aimed at any single reform but reflects broader anxiety over climate change, geopolitical tensions and the effect of artificial intelligence on jobs.

Logan Verhoeven, chair of the Francophone student committee (CEF), said tensions had not eased after just one weekend. “Things are not going well for young people,” he said, noting that pupils are questioning their future, access to education, career guidance and even transport.

In France, the movement is unfolding roughly seven months before presidential elections and has become politically charged. French intelligence services see a possible manoeuvre by La France Insoumise (LFI), which denies orchestrating the protests; coordinator Manuel Bompard accused the prime minister of “conspiracy thinking.” Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin has sought to make parents civilly liable for damage caused by their children, with damage estimated in the tens of millions of euros.

What’s Next

Liège schools reopened on Monday after consultations, with the mayor urging calm, but the underlying grievances remain unaddressed. French pupil representatives, backed by unions, have criticised a lack of concrete commitments from the government, and further nationwide protests are expected on Tuesday. The key question is whether dialogue can absorb the anger before the movements harden — and whether authorities in both countries can distinguish genuine student frustration from the more radical elements they say are steering the unrest.