Greta Thunberg joins hundreds of French teens protesting over run-down schools

She joined and applauded hundreds of teenagers who demonstrated boisterously outside school north of Paris

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Greta Thunberg on Tuesday threw her high-profile support behind high school protesters rattling the government in France, saying “the whole world is watching with awe”.

The surprise appearance by the 23-year-old climate activist, along with another day of marches in the French capital and elsewhere, suggested that high school students’ push for more resources for run-down schools is far from running out of steam. That’s despite mass arrests, mounting injuries and fatigue from more than three weeks of blockading schools and demonstrating.

Police used clouds of tear gas, water cannons and repeated charges to disperse protesters Tuesday when violence erupted on the fringes of the Paris marches. The Interior Ministry estimated that 161,500 people marched in demonstrations across the country, including 41,500 in Paris.

Outside the Paul Éluard high school in Saint-Denis, where staff and students have long complained of dilapidated facilities and even rat infestations, Thunberg said French pupils are “fighting back, reclaiming their future that has been taken away from them” and are inspiring young people in other countries.

“The international community sees these students and they’re leading by example,” she said to The Associated Press. “This generation is one that has been growing up with a sense of hopelessness for the future, when we can see our future and our rights taken from us,” she said.

The students’ grievances have resonated in neighbouring Belgium, where some schools closed in Liege.

Some French pupils say they see parallels between their protests and the “Cockroach” youth movement challenging the government in India and youth-led demonstrations a year ago in Morocco that also demanded better schools and hospitals.

“These movements are connected in one way or another. We are fighting against the same system,” she said.

The government of outgoing president Emmanuel Macron, whose term ends in May, argues that the movement in France is losing momentum. The Education Ministry said fewer schools were closed Tuesday although the number of staff injured since protests began in mid-September has risen to 147. The government says hundreds of police officers have also been wounded but has not detailed the severity of their injuries.

Pupils and university students who blockaded the Maurice Ravel high school in eastern Paris on Tuesday said they feel that their complaints are being heard by supporters in France and abroad but not by the government. Some vowed to keep protesting until that changes.