Fire, acid and tear gas swept across France on Tuesday as a nationwide public-sector strike collided with weeks of student unrest, leaving dozens of police officers and students injured and hundreds detained in the most violent day of protest the country has seen this autumn.

Eight major unions called workers out over a planned fourth consecutive freeze on public-sector base pay, a measure the government says is needed to help close a budget gap requiring roughly 54 billion euros in savings. Unions put nationwide turnout at some 300,000 marchers, while police estimated 30,000 in Paris alone; participation was lighter than earlier autumn walkouts, with roughly 11 percent of teachers and school staff joining and fewer than 10 percent of other civil servants.

Layered on top of the strike was a separate, weeks-long wave of student anger that has hit roughly 400 of France's 3,700 high schools, with dozens blockaded outright. Students in cities including Nantes, Rennes, Lille, Bordeaux, Lyon and Marseille have been protesting overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and crumbling buildings, grievances that hardened after summer heatwaves exposed poorly ventilated schools. One placard summed up the mood outside a blockaded Paris-area lycee: "8am-6pm. More hours of lessons than sleep."

Acid, Fire and a 48-Hour Ultimatum

On Tuesday the two movements turned volatile at the same time. Authorities said 440 people were detained nationwide, roughly two-thirds of them minors, while 48 police officers and 10 students and staff were hurt. Officers said they were targeted in at least seven incidents involving hydrochloric acid thrown toward police lines, alongside fireworks and fires set near school gates, according to France 24's account of police clashing with teens blockading schools.

Union and government leaders traded blame within hours. Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, France's largest union confederation, called the situation a "red alert" and gave the government 48 hours to reopen budget talks or face further walkouts.

"THIS ANGER IS NOT GOING AWAY. THE GOVERNMENT MUST LOOK AGAIN AT THE BUDGET." — Sophie Binet, CGT general secretary

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez and Education Minister Edouard Geffray both condemned the violence directed at police, with Geffray calling the clashes near schools "unspeakable." Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said "nothing justifies endangering students," while a student union leader countered that teenagers protesting overcrowded classrooms were being met with what she called "automatic repression."

What happens next hinges largely on Lecornu's government, which inherited the 2027 budget fight from predecessor Francois Bayrou and has so far shown little sign of scrapping the pay freeze. Binet's 48-hour deadline points to another round of strikes within days if ministers do not budge, while education officials face pressure to address the overcrowding and staffing complaints driving the school blockades before they spread further.

For now, students say they intend to keep occupying campus gates, and unions say Tuesday's turnout, smaller than September's mass mobilizations, was still enough to keep pressure on a government already navigating a fragile parliamentary majority.