PARIS, Oct 12 — Some 130 French high schools remained closed today, the education ministry said, with authorities hoping the protest movement that has rocked the nation in recent weeks would ease ahead of half-term holidays.

In an incident seemingly unrelated to the protests, in the southern town of Aubagne near Marseille police arrested a 14-year-old on Monday after a middle school headmaster and a teacher were shot with a hunting rifle.

Students have blocked entrances to hundreds of lycees — high schools for children aged 15 to 18 — in recent weeks, with squads of riot police deployed and occasionally violent clashes resulting.

Piling dumpsters, bins and barriers in front of their schools, or carrying often humorous signs at protests, pupils have complained about absent teachers, overloaded timetables, overcrowded classes and dilapidated classrooms, among other grievances.