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Children as young as 12 were arrested for rioting at just one high school in France as the country’s law and order crisis continued.

Footage shows youngsters from the Lycée Saint-Exupéry, in Mante-la-Jolie - where 153 were arrested - lined up kneeling on the floor with their hands behind their head.

Others have their faces pressed up against a wall as police in riot gear guard the huge group.

Some of the young hooded rioters were caught with heavy clubs, baseball bats, and teargas cannisters.

Officers can be heard barking out instructions after telling the children that they all faced violent disorder charges including ‘participation in an armed crowd’.

All had allegedly taken part in a nationwide day of action aimed at blockading schools and colleges in opposition to reform of the education system, and in support of so-called Yellow Vest demonstrators.

The Yellow Vests are named after the high visibility jackets all motorists have to carry in France, and their primary aim is to see petrol and diesel prices slashed.

President Emmanuel Macron has dropped planned green taxes on fuel because of riots in cities such as Paris, but the Vests have pledged to carry on demonstrating.

Cars and bins had been burnt at the Mante-la-Jolie school, and there had also been threats to burn it down, according to police.

An Interior Ministry source said: "Some 700 school pupils were arrested across France in connection with high school protests on Thursday.

"The most arrests were at the Lycée Saint-Exupéry in Mante-la-Jolie, where there were a total of 153 arrests of pupils born between 1998 and 2006."

At one point the police ran out of handcuffs, before all the arrested pupils were taken to a ‘holding area’ near the school, before being transferred to nearby police stations.

It is not known who shot the video at Mante-la-Jolie, but it will cause extreme embarrassment and shock to Mr Macron as he tries to deal with the mounting crisis.

Nearly 280 schools were disrupted on Thursday, 45 of which were blocked, according to the Interior Ministry.

There was widespread rioting in Paris last Saturday, with national monuments including the Arc de Triomphe vandalised and more than 400 people arrested.

Now Mr Macron, whose popularity rating is currently just 18 per cent, has said: ‘We have reason to fear a great violence’ this coming Saturday.

Horrifying images of French police beating up protesters have emerged, and these have inflamed an already hugely tense situation.

Mr Macron’s prime minister, Edouard Philippe, said: "What is at stake is the safety of the French people and our institutions. I call for responsibility.

"All the actors in the public debate – politicians, union leaders, journalists and citizens – will be accountable for their statements in the coming days."

Social media is currently full of appeals for people to mass around the Champs Elysees in Paris on Saturday, so as to create disorder.

It will mean the fourth day of disturbances in a row, leading it to be dubbed ‘Act 4’.