French teenagers hold another day of protests over schools

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg participated in a demonstration in front of a high school in a popular neighborhood in Paris this Tuesday (13), while French students took to the streets for another day of protests against the poor conditions of school buildings.

In its fourth week, the national movement aims to draw attention to the lack of teachers, overcrowded classrooms and the dilapidated state of facilities and has involved marches, blockades of hundreds of schools and, in some cases, clashes with police.

Students gathered outside the doors of several schools in Paris and other cities in the early hours of the morning, holding signs and megaphones and chanting slogans. Marches were planned for later in the day.

Education Minister Edouard Geffray told Radio France International that around 200 schools were closed, adding that some of the closures were due to security measures as they were on the route of the planned marches.

Greta Thunberg, who rose to fame as a teenage climate change protester but has since broadened her activism, said French students deserve broader support.

"They should know that, all over the world, we are following these developments. We are inspired by young people demanding their basic rights," she told reporters outside the Lycée Paul Eluard in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, one of the schools where the protest movement first gained momentum.

“Whether it’s a lack of funding for schools, the climate crisis or crises of social injustice… it’s time for young people to mobilize and demand that future.”

Greta also criticized the police's actions, which have been the subject of fierce debate, classifying it as an “extremely violent” sign that the authorities are protecting the status quo and ignoring the demands of young people.

Riot police used tear gas and charged at protesters in several incidents, injuring hundreds and arresting thousands.

The government suspended the use of stun grenades last week after a teenager lost his hand.

While left-wing politicians have criticized the police, far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen and others have blamed violent protesters and highlighted the damage done to schools and the injuries suffered by staff and police.

The protest movement has contributed to increasing the sense of uncertainty and crisis plaguing France, six months before a presidential election that could lead to the first far-right government since World War II, led by Le Pen's National Rally.