Protests by secondary school students were met with police violence in several cities, enraging the youngest generation and paving the way for more angry confrontations in days to come.

Pupils have been blockading the entrance to schools with makeshift barricades in their support for the wave of protest which has been focused on changes to the retirement age but has now taken on a much wider agenda.

Reports The Daily Telegraph: "France's BFM TV showed images of groups of students toppling waste containers in southeast France and erecting barricades in the middle of a Paris avenue.

"Police in the Val-de-Marne region southeast of Paris detained about 15 students for hurling projectiles at police and vandalising property.

"One student was injured when he was hit by a rubber flash-ball fired by police in the Paris suburbs, and another was taken to hospital in Bordeaux after clashes. In scuffles elsewhere, students in Lille burned a car and rubbish containers."

The Green Party Mayor of Montreuil, Dominique Voynet, condemned the police for shooting at children, adding that the teenager hit by the flash-ball risked losing his eye.

A big day of demonstrations this Saturday is to be followed by another day of strikes and protests on Tuesday October 19.