France student protest: Greta Thunberg joins french students protesting for better school conditions

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg joined high school pupils campaigning for better learning conditions in France on Tuesday ahead of fresh nationwide demonstrations with authorities and participants wary of further violenceThe 23yearold who became famous as a teen for school strikes to demand action on climate change stood among pupils demonstrating outside a school at the heart of the movement in the capitals largest suburb of SaintDenisThunberg arrived at the Paul Eluard high school as lawyers in their robes formed a human chain to protect teens after numerous allegations of police brutalityYoung people are not being included in the conversation Our future is being robbed away from us Thunberg told AFPThe mobilisation which is backed by unions and the farleft opposition France Unbowed party was to include a midday march through Paris along with marches in other citiesTheyre not listening to us so were going to them university student union lUnion etudiante wrote on XMore than 70000 people took to the streets last Thursday in the last major event of a movement that sprung up in late SeptemberFrench authorities had been hoping that the protests would start to ease ahead of halfterm holidaysWe should be at around 200 schools closed which is fewer than last week Education Minister Edouard Geffray said on France Inter on Tuesday morning adding some near protest routes were closing to avoid damageIn the Paris region teenagers had blockaded the entrances to several schools before dawnIn the southern city of Marseille students slowly pushed dumpsters on wheels in front of their high schoolArent being heardFrench students say they are determined to press the government to address the problems of too many absent teachers dilapidated buildings overcrowded class schedules and other grievancesThe protests since last month have seen teenagers pile up dumpsters and light security barriers outside hundreds of Frances 3700 lycees for students mostly aged 15 to 18They have mostly been peaceful but seen clashes occasionally break out with policeThe education ministry said eight members of teaching staff were injured on Monday mostly in the Paris region and cities of Bordeaux and Lyon in relation to the protestsStudents arent being heard enough not their proposals to authorities and elected officials a 19yearold graphic design student in Paris Leo said on MondayHe added that the protesters many of whom were minors were disturbed by the level of repression never before seen for a student movementThousands of arrestsAuthorities said fireworks fired through a tube injured two school workers in Reims one school worker in a Paris suburb and a police officer outside a school in MarseilleTuesdays demonstrations supporting the students were to be followed on Saturday by wider public rallies against the rising cost of livingNaila a 17yearold student in the city of Rennes who said she would participate in Tuesdays demonstration hoped it would converge with the wider one on SaturdayPresident Emmanuel Macron speaking to reporters at a car show on Monday urged restraint from protestersThese are issues that deserve time consultations discussion and respect Macron said just months before elections to replace himMore than 6800 people largely minors have been taken into police custody over the course of the protests according to the justice ministryPolice have opened internal investigations into 24 allegations of brutality against demonstratorsAfter last weeks nationwide demonstrations the government promised some 3000 substitute teachers would be deployed in the coming days to replace absent staff at the 114 worstaffected high schoolsThe education minister said on Tuesday that 35 percent had already been assignedHigh school students are demanding a 10 billioneuro 11 billion boost for lyceesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever