DOMINANT ANGLE
Brussels is gauging the crisis of French high schools in terms of contagion: on Thursday, October 1, the blockages spread to Liège, where secondary schools will close on Friday, October 2.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
Thursday, October 1, students blocked about ten schools in the province of Liège; the Liège police reported one administrative arrest and five judicial arrests.
- 02
The City of Liège closed all secondary schools in its network on Friday, October 2, after a similar decision by the free network, for security reasons.
- 03
In Nantes, the hall of Nelson Mandela High School was destroyed by an arson fire, according to the deputy principal quoted by AFP; in Marseille, public transportation was interrupted.
ANALYSIS
Brussels, October 2, 2026. For La Libre Belgique and La DH, the movement of French high school students is no longer just a foreign issue: on Thursday, October 1, it affected the province of Liège. "For over a week, French high school students have been blocking hundreds of schools in the Hexagon," La Libre recalls, the movement having spread to universities before "now affecting Belgium".
On the French side, La Libre relays the AFP: the hall of the Nelson Mandela high school in Nantes was destroyed by a fire presented as intentional, and the circulation of buses, trams, and subways was interrupted in Marseille after attacks on drivers, according to the RTM. A fire truck was completely burned out.
However, the main focus is on Liège. A call launched on social media gathered hundreds of students in front of five establishments, including the Athénée de Fragnée and the Marie-Thérèse school, around 8 am. The Liège police reported egg-throwing, apple-throwing, barrier-throwing, and firecracker-throwing, as well as burned trash cans and scooters, physical violence including one incident against a school administrator, and projectiles thrown at police officers. The reported toll is one administrative arrest and five judicial arrests. One student regretted "the image we're giving to the movement"; another said some wanted "to do like in France, but we didn't believe it".
The management is very concrete: the police asked the Notre-Dame de Jupille Institute to confine its students at noon, fearing encounters with vandals, according to its director Jean-François Fabry. Faced with the announced amplification, the free network and then the City of Liège closed the secondary schools on Friday, October 2, "above all" for the safety of students, staff, and buildings, according to Alderwoman Julie Fernandez-Fernandez.
The editorial of La DH, titled "Bordelization of School: will the French virus contaminate Belgium?", delivers the most scathing judgment. It speaks of a crisis "instrumentalized by LFI", judges the reading of a simple civic conscience as "very angelic", and reproaches the Insoumis for taking "heavy responsibility". It adds that, for 14- or 15-year-old protesters, force must remain "the last resort". The students' demands, which concern school resources, are echoed in the demands of Belgian teachers.
SOURCES (2)
- La Libre BelgiqueMEDIUM
- DH (Dernière Heure)MEDIUM
