PARIS — A student protest movement that began a month ago in a handful of high schools in Paris' poorest suburbs has grown into one of France's most serious domestic crises. It has shut down schools, drawn riot police into the streets and put fresh pressure on a government already struggling with a deep budget crisis.

Students say they are fed up with crumbling buildings, overcrowded classrooms and chronic teacher shortages, problems they blame on years of underinvestment in public education. The government says it is responding with emergency measures, but has warned that France's strained finances limit how much it can spend.

How the protests began

Students first began boycotting classes on Sept. 21 in deprived areas north of Paris, protesting what they described as unacceptable conditions in their high schools, known in France as lycées.

The movement spread quickly. School blockades and demonstrations broke out in cities including Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes, Lyon, Lille, Marseille, Strasbourg and Toulouse. By Oct. 2, more than 400 schools had closed as some protests turned violent and riot police clashed with students outside several campuses.

On Oct. 6, as demonstrations intensified, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu suspended high school classes across France for the rest of the week.

"Burning down a high school does not improve the state of high school buildings," Lecornu said as he announced the suspension, condemning violence while pledging to examine repairs to aging campuses.

He also........

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