Policewoman chased down street, kicked to ground as riots rock France

DAILYMAIL • 2h ago

By OLIVIA DAY, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR, AUSTRALIA and PETER ALLEN and PERKIN AMALARAJ, FOREIGN NEWS REPORTER 20:47 01 Oct 2026, updated 21:20 01 Oct 2026

This is the moment a policewoman is chased and then kicked to the ground by a gang of young rioters amid escalating student protests across France.

What started as largely peaceful demonstrations against the state of education have descended into violent chaos, with almost 2,000 youths arrested on Thursday.

Protests began last Monday, when students and teaching staff took to French towns and cities to demand the replacement of absent teachers, an increase of educational resources, school renovations and ‘decent’ learning conditions.

Paris and Marseille saw the most violence today, where a group of teachers were ‘assaulted and doused in petrol’ at the Victor Hugo high school.

As the nationwide rioting intensified this week, scores of violent videos have been posted online, many shot by the rioters. One clip showed a lone policewoman being chased down a city street and then tripped up by a gang of young men.

The verified footage – shot in the Paris suburbs today – ended abruptly as the officer, who was grasping a teargas canister, lay on the ground.

She is kicked once, before the person filming moves away. They captioned the video ‘police officer swept away’ with laugh-out-loud emojis.

‘The situation is catastrophic,’ one viewer wrote. ‘No-one should condone this.’

Their sentiments were echoed by former leader of France’s hard-right National Rally party, politician and lawyer Marine Le Pen.

She wrote on X: ‘The image of this young policewoman, pursued by a howling mob screaming its hatred, thrown to the ground and assaulted, is unbearable.

‘These acts deserve exemplary punishments. Let her know that tonight, millions of French people offer her their warm support.’

National Rally President Jordan Bardella said: ‘Footage of a policewoman being chased through the streets and mobbed on the ground this morning in Paris illustrates what France has become after decades of laxity and mass immigration.

‘How long will we tolerate this barbarism? How long will we let our country sink without reacting?’

Condemning ‘the unbridled violence’, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez revealed that 1,949 people were arrested on Thursday alone, most aged between 15 and 18 and taken into custody for a range of public order offences.

He condemned ‘the targeting of law enforcement officers, the throwing of missiles, acts of violence, verbal abuse, attempted arson, and all-round urban violence.’

At least 305 police officers and members of the armed forces have been injured.

The unrest gathered pace this week after the Left-wing mayor of the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, Bally Bagayoko, told protesters on Tuesday ‘violence can be legitimate’ in remarks that sparked fury across the country.

Other LFI members have been seen outside blockaded school buildings, urging youngsters on using megaphones.

Teenagers at lycées – the equivalent of a British upper school including the 6th form – have been blockading their schools since last week

In Marseille, staff at the Victor Hugo High School were splashed with petrol as the school was targeted in an arson attempt. All members of staff were forced to take refuge inside the building for their safety.

In Nantes, the entrance hall of Nelson Mandela High School was destroyed by a fire this morning. The school’s deputy head Gaelle Cordier said this was an act of ‘arson’.

Footage from the school showed all storeys of the entrance hall alight, as people stood around and watched.

Another clip, captured from further away, showed smoke rising out of the building.

Elsewhere in Marseille, a firefighter was injured after rioters set a fire engine alight near the Saint-Exupéry high school this morning.

A video of the incident showed black-clad young men battering the emergency vehicle with metal objects, before cheering as a fire quickly began consuming it.

Videos posted online have shown heavily-armed police using teargas and baton charges to fight back against the rioters.

Officers have been accused of brutality after a 14-year-old lost six teeth when an officer fired a tear-gas grenade into his jaw at point-blank range outside a school.

The police watchdog, which claimed the teenager had hit a policewoman before the grenade was fired, has launched an investigation.

The mayor of the city, Benoit Payan, today called for calm.

He wrote on social media: ‘Our youth is legitimately concerned about its future and that of the public service. It must be able to express itself in a calm framework.

‘Today, our city is the scene of unacceptable violence, fires, and assaults suffered by teachers, firefighters, journalists and Marseillais, which no cause can justify.

‘I call for calm from each and every one, and for finding the path to a democratic expression of grievances.

‘Marseille stands alongside those who defend the public service and the future of our youth, not alongside those who destroy, set fires and commit violence.’

Speaking in Madrid yesterday, President Emmanuel Macron slammed hard-Left politicians he accused of ‘legitimising violence’ in the French school protests.

Mr Macron has since called a crisis meeting in Paris to deal with the spiralling unrest. French media reported that all ministerial trips have been cancelled until the beginning of next week, in light of the heightened security situation.

His administration has just announced a series of deeply unpopular spending cuts in its 2027 budget, including less money for schools and colleges.

Education minister Edouard Geffray today called for classes to be held remotely at schools where blockades are taking place.

He described the violent scenes this morning as ‘extremely serious’, calling for ‘those who commit this violence to be prosecuted and punished’ and adding: ‘It goes far beyond the issue of schools alone. No demand can justify such acts.’

Le Pen wrote on social media: ‘Marseille, Lyon, Grenoble, Besançon, Nîmes, Strasbourg: everywhere in France, the situation is deteriorating. Teachers are being attacked, street furniture is being set on fire, buses are being pelted with stones.

‘By personally showing up in front of high schools to harangue the youth, by calling on his supporters to rise up in insurrection, by sending his deputies to the school grounds, Jean-Luc Mélenchon bears heavy responsibility for the situation our country is facing today.

‘Order must be restored and access to high schools ensured. The safety of students and teachers must be guaranteed. Nothing can justify these outrages, committed for several days now and only intensifying, being allowed to continue.’

In Pas-de-Calais, the headteacher of the Fernand Degrugillier vocational high school in Auchel was injured by a ‘mortar’ firework this morning.

The man, in his fifties, was hit in the ear and taken to hospital, officials said. Regional authorities said that 37 have been arrested since this morning.

In Bordeaux, dramatic footage taken on Rue Sainte-Catherine in Bordeaux, one of Europe’s longest shopping streets, showed teenage protesters lighting cans of aerosol on fire in a pile.

After a few seconds, the pile exploded and the gathered crowd of thugs cheered.

At the Claude Fauriel high school in Saint-Etienne, countless young men in hoodies were seen running through the campus.

Several cities have said that their public transport systems have come to a complete standstill.

Marseille officials announced it will stop bus, tram and metro services following a targeted attack against a bus driver near high schools in the north and east of the city.

Meanwhile, Strasbourg has suspended its tram services ‘in order to limit the movement of vandals and protesters’.

Grenoble officials said they were shutting off the city’s bus and tram services due to the ‘high school student movement’.

Saint-Denis mayor Bagayoko, said early this morning that he stood by his Tuesday remarks as ‘they are the correct words of a mayor who does not wish to engage in a logic of escalating violence’.

The Paris Police Prefect has since filed a complaint against Mr Bagayoko for ‘incitement to commit a crime’.

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