MSU student Spencer Olinek, on study abroad in Rouen, France, decided to use a day of canceled class to see for himself what the country's nationwide student protests look like up close.

Mostly concentrated in Paris in recent weeks, the demonstrations have grown to other cities, including where Olinek is studying international business — about an hour from the capital city.

Olinek —a studio art and general business administration and prelaw junior — heard Monday evening that classes would likely be canceled Tuesday because instructors wouldn't be able to make it to Rouen because of striking train and subway workers.

The photographs Olinek took while witnessing the demonstrations in Rouen accompany the Associated Press story on this page.

"Since we had the day off, we walked to downtown (Rouen) - businesses were closing down and riot police began lining the streets," said Olinek, a 20-year-old from Detroit's Birmingham suburb.

It wasn't long before demonstrators barricaded a street and a Dumpster was set on fire, he said.

Once protesters began throwing stones at officers, police fired back with rounds of tear gas, Olinek said.

"Bus stops were getting smashed, I saw at least one business with windows completely shattered," he said. "Students were taunting police… and police were taunting students."

Olinek estimates the demonstrations lasted about two hours Tuesday evening and it appeared to him that many passersby on the streets were not surprised or disrupted by the protests.

Before they knew it, Olinek and classmates were directly between people throwing rocks and police shooting teargas.

"It was definitely alarming to be in the middle of it," Olinek said. "We were surprisingly left alone. Police were discerning between who was involved and passersby."

Olinek is one of five MSU students studying at Institut de Formation Internationale in Rouen, but said he was the only MSU student to see the demonstrations in person.