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About 400 schools in France are expected to remain \u200bclosed on Friday after student protests over education-related grievances turned violent in some \u200cplaces.<\/strong><\/p>\n The protests against teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings erupted in the Paris region last month but have turned increasingly violent as they spread nationwide, with dozens injured and police making \u200bhundreds of arrests.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is an active and violent minority (participating in the protests) \u2026 \u200bWe\u2019re not entirely sure that they are even high-school students themselves\u201d, Justice \u2060Minister Gerald Darmanin told RTL radio on Friday, adding that 2,000 people had \u200bbeen arrested since the protests began, with about two-thirds placed in police custody.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have \u200bgone from high-school student demonstrations to a public-order disturbance. When people target buses and set schools on fire, it is no longer simply a protest issue\u201d, he also said.<\/p>\n In an interview with \u200bbroadcaster France 2, French Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on Thursday evening that \u201ca \u200blittle over 400 schools and other educational establishments\u201d would remain closed on Friday.<\/p>\n HARD-LEFT<\/strong><\/p>\n According to a source \u200cclose \u2060to Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, intelligence agencies told a crisis meeting on Thursday that the protest movement had been initiated by politicians from the hard left, including members of La France Insoumise (LFI).<\/p>\n LFI lawmaker Louis Boyard denied the claim in comments to \u200bFrench broadcasters.<\/p>\n Student protesters started \u200bfires in at \u2060least two high schools on Thursday, while teachers were inadvertently splashed with petrol at a third in the southern city of \u200bMarseille, officials said. At least one car was torched in \u200bStrasbourg in \u2060the east and riot police clashed with youths in Toulouse in the southwest.<\/p>\n Some high school students in the city of Li\u00e8ge in neighbouring Belgium also began protesting on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u2060According \u200bto local media, authorities in Li\u00e8ge announced that \u200ball schools in the city would close on Friday. A spokesperson for the municipality did not immediately confirm \u200bthe closures.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n