French education minister to hold talks with high school students later today
French education minister Édouard Geffray has invited the three leading high school students associations for further talks at the ministry later this afternoon.
This comes as a recent opinion poll showed that the French public broadly supports the protest – with three-thirds agreeing with the students’ demands, and 55% backing the demonstrations – but is divided on whether they should continue (Europe Live, yesterday).
Students hold placards as they demonstrate outside the Carmes campus of the Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP), in Paris, France. Photograph: Firas Altoukhi/EPA
French high school protests spill over to Belgium with concerns about violence
The French protests are also spilling over the border to Belgium, particularly Brussels and Liège, Reuters and broadcaster RTBF reported.
In Liege, local media have reported more than 200 arrests in connection with student protests this month, and authorities have imposed a ban on public gatherings of more than three people until 16 October, Reuters reported.
Protestors hold placards during a protest against education reforms by the Wallonia-Brussels Federation government and an increase in student fees in Liège, Belgium. Photograph: Nicolas Tucat/AFP/Getty Images
A person holds a placard reading: "They make reforms, and on top of that, they deform us.", as high school students take part in a spontaneous street protest in Liège, Belgium. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/Reuters
But Belgium’s foreign minister, Bernard Quintin, said hard-left activists had infiltrated the Liège school protests and were causing damage to property.
Youths confront riot police as students gather outside several schools in Liège during a protest against education reforms and budget cuts. Photograph: Jonas Roosens/Belga/Shutterstock
Demonstrators smash a shop window as protesters clash with riot police during a high school students' demonstration against education spending cuts in Liège, Belgium. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA
People attempt to put an electric scooter into a burning structure on a street in Liège, Belgium. Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/Reuters
Julien Doeche, a member of the Liège Antifascist Front, told RTBF Quintin’s claims were “fantasies“.
30 people killed after Russian strike on public transport in eastern Ukraine
Meanwhile, we are getting sad news from Ukraine, where at least 30 people were killed in a Russian attack in the proximity of a bus stop in the city of Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine.
At least 18 people were also injured.
Responding to the strike, the region’s governor Vadym Filashkin suspended the operation of public transport, warning it was “an attractive target” for Russia given “a single strike can kill the highest number of people.”
“Russia consciously disregards all conceivable rules of warfare and norms of international humanitarian law. It selects targets where it can inflict the greatest suffering on civilians,” he warned.
“Under these circumstances, we have no right to risk the lives of passengers and drivers. The safety of the residents of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk is paramount,” he added.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier that the strike targeted “an ordinary public transport stop.”
More high school protests take place across France - in pictures
Back to France,let me bring you more pictures from this morning’s high school protests, which are taking place not just in Paris, but also in other cities, including Nantes and Bordeaux.
French high school and university students attend a demonstration in Nantes. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters
Students protesters hold placards as they gather for a blockade at the IUT Bordeaux Montaigne university institute of technology in Bordeaux. Photograph: Philippe Lopez/AFP/Getty Images
High school students gathered in Bron for a demonstration, as part of student mobilisation taking place today. Photograph: PITTORE/NEIRDAPROD/SIPA/Shutterstock
A protester reading a book reacts as tear gas sprayed by police is seen in the background during a blockade action part of a demonstration of high-school students near Helene Boucher high school in Paris. Photograph: Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP/Getty Images
One dead, two injured in another knife attack at Polish school
We are getting reports of another knife attack at a school in Poland.
The incident took place in Leszczydół-Nowiny, east-central Poland, leaving one person dead and two injured. A 15-year-old boy was apprehended at the scene.
It comes just a day after a 17-year-old boy injured nine people in a separate school stabbing attack (Europe Live, yesterday). An improvised explosive device was discovered in his backpack.
Elsewhere in the country, another 17-year-old has been detained on suspicion of planning a similar knife attack.
In response to the wave of incidents, Polish police said they will step up spot checks near schools to scan for knives and identify suspicious behaviour.
EU drops sponsorship of disinformation conference at Trump officials’ request
Aisha Down in London, Joseph Gedeonin Washington andJennifer Rankinin Brussels
In other news, the Trump administration pressured multiple countries to withdraw their sponsorship of a leading European conference on disinformation, with Canada, Lithuania and the EU’s diplomatic service subsequently agreeing to do so, the Guardian understands.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio speaks to the press in Athens Photograph: Mark Schiefelbein/AFP/Getty Images
The conference, #Disinfo2026, taking place Wednesday and Thursday, is the annual meetup of Europe’s counter-disinformation community and has drawn hundreds of researchers, journalists, technologists and policymakers to a hotel in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is run by an independent Brussels non-profit, EU Disinfo Lab.
Days before the conference, the logos of its main supporters – the Lithuanian ministry of foreign affairs, the European External Action Service (EEAS) and Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry – were wiped off its website.
Photos of the event shared with the Guardian also show white stickers affixed over the logos of these organisations printed on official conference materials, appearing to indicate they were struck from the program in haste.
Three persons familiar with the matter, including European officials, confirmed that the US state department had been in touch with multiple governments over their support for the conference.
Internal state department documents seen by the Guardian also show US officials thanking Lithuania for “taking US concerns seriously”. The document says Washington was “grateful” Lithuania supposedly found a panel framing the US as a foreign information threat “reprehensible and surprising” and welcomed its decision to limit involvement in the conference.
French high school protests this morning - in pictures
A protester uses a megaphone next to French CRS riot police outside Lycee Helene-Boucher high school, during nationwide protests in Paris, France. Photograph: Pedro Nunes/Reuters
French high school students sit on barricades outside the Lycee Lamartine high school in Paris. Photograph: Pedro Nunes/Reuters
A protester confronts riot police officers outside Lycee Helene-Boucher high school as students block the road, during nationwide protests in Paris, France. Photograph: Pedro Nunes/Reuters
Students demonstrate outside the Carmes campus of the Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP), in Paris, France. Photograph: Firas Altoukhi/EPA
French education minister to hold talks with high school students later today
French education minister Édouard Geffray has invited the three leading high school students associations for further talks at the ministry later this afternoon.
This comes as a recent opinion poll showed that the French public broadly supports the protest – with three-thirds agreeing with the students’ demands, and 55% backing the demonstrations – but is divided on whether they should continue (Europe Live, yesterday).
Students hold placards as they demonstrate outside the Carmes campus of the Institut Catholique de Paris (ICP), in Paris, France. Photograph: Firas Altoukhi/EPA
Morning opening: French high school protests continue despite PM's promise of action
High school protests across France show no sign of slowing down, with nearly 400 educational establishments facing disruptions this morning.
A French high school student confronts people who want to prevent her from building a barricade, outside the Lycee Lamartine high school in Paris. Photograph: Pedro Nunes/Reuters
Demonstrators have rejected a promise by prime minister Sébastien Lecornu to present a plan to fix the country’s education system by the end of the month, demanding he fully engages with their demands sooner than that.
In a televised address last night, Lecornu said the country could not be “indifferent” to their concerns, and acknowledged that their anger “does not come from nowhere,” but did not make any immediate headline-grabbing announcements.
France's prime minister Sébastien Lecornu makes a statement regarding the situation in high schools, fuel prices, the agricultural crisis, and the France's financial situation in Paris. Photograph: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images
“We want real action, and until we get it, we’ll keep mobilising,” a high school student named Marilou in Fontainebleau told AFP.
I will keep an eye on today’s events in France as they unfold.
Over in Spain, I will look at reactions after last night’s death of María del Carmen Abascal, the 87-year-old whose eviction set off a nationwide wave of protests against Spain’s housing crisis.
Elsewhere, Britain’s prime minister Andy Burnham will meet with Germany’s Friedrich Merz in Berlin for political talks. Unusually, however, the pair will not hold a joint press conference.
Lots to cover.
It’s Thursday, 8 October 2026, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.