PARIS – Students demonstrating against youth job law reform left behind a “scandalous” trail of damage and destruction in French universities, it emerged yesterday.

From the Sorbonne in Paris to Toulouse and Montpellier, colleges are counting the cost, provisionally estimated at about $2.7 million, of wrecked furniture, stolen or vandalized equipment, and wall-to-wall graffiti.

Courses have resumed at those universities that have reopened after Easter. But the government, which gave in to protesters by scrapping the “first job contracts,” insists they will receive no help with repairs.

At the Sorbonne, where police forced out occupying students early in the revolt, a fire alarm system with miles of cable will have to be renewed and 70 stolen computers must be replaced.

The wine cellar was pillaged, a boiler was sabotaged, and dozens of tables, chairs, and doors were damaged beyond repair.

The Sorbonne says the total cost is likely to approach $680,000. The Pierre-Mendes-France university in Grenoble reported scenes of “unimaginable filth” after a 38-day occupation.

Students who condemned the damage offered to help to clear up but the college had to bring in a specialist steam-cleaning firm.