Swedish activist Greta Thunberg joined French students on Tuesday in protesting for better conditions in education. The 23-year-old environmental activist appeared unexpectedly in front of a secondary school in the working-class suburb of Saint-Denis, which has become a focal point of the movement.
The protest movement began in the Paris region on 17 September and has since spread across France. Students and certain trade unions have joined the movement, which is also supported by the left-wing La France Insoumise party. Thunberg told the crowd of hundreds: "We are having our future stolen from us" and "schools are not receiving the investment they need". She stated that "we will not give up" and that she was "proud of the French students".
The demonstrations began in the morning in cities such as Nantes, Lens, Lyon and Marseille, with protesters chanting: "Fight, fight to victory". According to the interior ministry, by midday there had been 360 protest actions at educational institutions, including 50 universities, not counting the Paris area. A total of 30,000 participants had gathered. In the Paris region, teenagers had blocked the entrances to several schools early in the morning, while in Marseille students blocked access to their high school with containers. During the protests, teenagers set up barriers of containers and burned fences in front of hundreds of the 3,700 high schools in France.
The Ministry of Education reported that 214 secondary schools were closed on Tuesday, compared with 224 on the previous Thursday and 800 on Tuesday, 6 October. The ministry of higher education stated that 35 per cent of the institutions under its jurisdiction were disrupted on Tuesday. The student union Union Etudiante claimed that 90 per cent of the approximately 70 universities in the country were "blocked" or "closed". The student union l'Union etudiante announced on the X platform: "They are not listening to us, so we are coming to them".
Thunberg arrived at the Paul Eluard high school at the moment when lawyers in robes were forming a human chain to protect the teenagers from the police. She told the agency AFP: "Young people are not being included in the conversation. Our future is being stolen". The mobilisation includes a march through Paris in the afternoon and protests in other cities.
The minister for education, Edouard Geffray, said in the morning that there would be around 200 schools closed, fewer than the previous week. He explained that some schools on the protest routes were closing preventively to avoid material damage. The ministry of education reported that eight school staff members had been injured the previous day, mostly in the Paris, Bordeaux and Lyon regions. Two school staff members were injured by firework attacks in Reims, one in a suburb of Paris and one police officer in front of a school in Marseille.
Leo (19), a graphic design student in Paris, said: "The voice of students is not heard enough. The authorities are ignoring their proposals." Naila (17), a student from Rennes participating in the protests, expressed hope that the students' demands would be linked to the demands of the Saturday gathering. Broader public gatherings against the rising cost of living are scheduled for Saturday.
President Emmanuel Macron, during a visit to a car show, called for restraint and stated: "These are issues that require time, consultation, debate and respect for the law". The ministry of justice announced that more than 6,800 people had been arrested during the protests, mostly minors. The police have opened 24 internal investigations into allegations of brutality against protesters.
The government has promised to send 3,000 replacement teachers to 114 high schools most affected by the protests. The minister for education said that 35 per cent of these teachers had already been deployed. Students and teachers continue to insist on an increase in investment in state schools of 10 billion euros. Last Thursday, more than 70,000 people took to the streets, the highest turnout since the protests began in late September.
