French students blocked the entrances to 49 high schools and marched through Paris on Tuesday, keeping up a protest movement over school conditions that has now run for almost two months and grown into wider demonstrations over the cost of living.

The Education Ministry said 49 of France's 3,700 high schools were blockaded on Tuesday morning. In Paris, a march set off from the Pantheon at 2pm and headed towards Place d'Italie, along a route authorised by the police prefecture. Between 2,000 and 4,000 people were expected to join the Paris march, according to an intelligence report.

Government condemns violence

French authorities condemned acts of violence against teaching staff and officials during the protests. In Chelles, near Paris, a local official was hit in the chest with a bottle filled with petrol in front of a high school on Tuesday. In Begles, near Bordeaux, a high school principal was hit in the head by a projectile on Monday, and a high school was set on fire overnight in Aix-en-Provence.

"This violence is absolutely unacceptable," government spokesman Mathieu Lefevre said, adding that nearly 300 national education staff had been injured since the student protests began nearly two months ago. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez condemned the Chelles attack, saying it was no longer a student movement but acts of urban violence.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray said 99 percent of high school students were back in class on Tuesday, but warned that in a few schools there were dangerous and violent people attacking staff and elected officials.

What the students want

The movement began in mid-September at a high school in Creteil, with students and teachers demanding school building repairs, more teachers and university reforms. It has since broadened, with students calling for an end to the Parcoursup university admissions platform, caps on class sizes, 150,000 extra university places and 15,000 permanent university posts.

Student unions said on Monday they were not satisfied after talks with Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu and called for the demonstrations to continue. On Monday, Lecornu announced a 1.6 percent rise in the minimum wage from 1 December, taking it to around 1,502 euros net a month, but unions said the measure was far too small.

Further action is already planned. Public-sector unions are due to meet officials at Matignon on Friday 13 November, and a new nationwide strike day has been called for Tuesday 17 November.