London: Climate campaigner Greta Thunberg has joined French school students at a rally in Paris to back their calls for more education funding, as national protests descended into sporadic violence and clashes with police.
More than 161,500 protesters gathered across the country in another show of their frustration with school standards despite a government pledge last Friday to hire more teachers and address student concerns.
While the rallies were largely peaceful, some turned violent when masked protesters threw projectiles at police and lit fires in the streets, while authorities fired tear gas to control the crowds.
Thunberg’s appearance highlighted the growing international attention on the protests and her call for young people in other countries to match the French protesters in demanding social justice.
Six months out from the country’s next elections, presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon of left-wing party La France Insoumise (France Unbowed) joined the rallies to show his support for younger voters.
Students began protesting in September to call for more teachers, better school facilities and repairs to basic features such as bathrooms.
Thunberg made a broader call for a better deal for the younger generation when she joined a protest in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis, a working-class area where students said their school did not have adequate funding.
“The whole world is watching with awe, like, for these students who are fighting back, reclaiming their future that has been taken away from them,” the Swedish activist told reporters.
“And we’re also seeing this spreading across the country and internationally as well.”
Thunberg blamed “racist media and politicians” for painting a distorted picture of the protests and said the younger generation had grown up with a sense of hopelessness for the future.
“I am an extremely privileged person. I am a white person from Sweden. I am very much part of this very destructive system that systematically benefits people like me. And if I choose to stay silent, knowing that, I choose the side of the oppressor.”
While French unions said about 480,000 people took part in the rallies on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry estimated the crowds at 161,500. This was bigger than a similar day of action last Thursday, when authorities said about 71,500 attended.
The protests have intensified a national debate over government priorities when France is burdened by about €3.6 trillion ($5.8 trillion) in public debt, equivalent to 119 per cent of GDP, one of the highest rates in Europe.
Interest payments on the debt are expected to rise €79 billion this year, reflecting the bigger debt and rising interest rates. The national education budget is estimated to reach €64 billion next year.
With parliament split over budget policies, the government is struggling to reform taxation and spending, although it has set aside more money for education in the year ahead.
Education Minister Édouard Geffray said on Friday there would be no cuts to secondary schools in 2027 and a boost to teacher numbers – a key concern for students who say too many classes have no teachers for weeks or longer because replacement teachers cannot be found.
Geffray promised that 3000 replacement teachers would be deployed to the schools with the greatest shortages.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.
