French authorities say 161,500 turned out for Tuesday’s student demos

Thousands of demonstrators marched through French towns and cities on Tuesday in support of protesting lycée (high school) students, and against what many participants denounced as police violence against the student movement.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, 23, was among those rallying in Paris’s Saint-Denis suburb, saying she was there because “our future is being robbed away from us”.

The ongoing protests began in high schools with students demanding more teachers, more resources and repairs to their often crumbling school buildings.

Official figures put the turnout at 161,500 across France, including 41,500 in Paris – unions had put the turnout at 460,000 in France including between 56,000 and 100,000 in Paris.

Demos the previous Tuesday had attracted 250,000 people according to official figures, or 450,000 according to unions.

There were also some blockades at lycées on Tuesday, although official figures showed that 214 of the country’s roughly 2,500 lycées were closed – compared to 800 closed on October 6th.

The marches came as parliament began studying a budget bill containing swingeing cost-cutting, and just six months before voters hit the polls to choose a successor to President Emmanuel Macron.

University students were prominent in Tuesday’s demonstrations, alongside teachers and union leaders.

They were also backed by far-left opposition party La France Insoumise (LFI), whose chief, presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Mélenchon, was seen among the crowd in Paris.

“It’s important to be here in the demonstrations because of the repression being put in place against a movement that I find legitimate,” said one demonstrator in Paris who gave his name as Charles, a 20-year-old law and economics student.

He was outside Paris city hall, where crowds rallied to the tune of an orchestra playing The Rebel Fanfare from the Star Wars movies.

Thousands also marched in the cities of Nantes, Lyon, Lens, Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Marseille.

“We stand in solidarity with the high schools that are worse off. We need real measures and proper dialogue, not repression,” said 16-year-old pupil Emeline, outside a Marseille school.

“We’re here because we really feel we’re not being heard by the government,” said Nina, 17.

It was the second nationwide show of support for the student movement that sprang up late last month, with teenagers at France’s lycées — high schools for those aged 15 to 18 — blocking the entrances to many schools to demand better classroom conditions.

It was to be followed with broader demonstrations across France on Saturday over the cost of living – with the two threatening to merge and snowball into sustained street unrest that is already rocking France’s bond market.

READ ALSO: Protests in France: What to expect on Saturday, October 17th

The last nationwide demonstrations, on Thursday last week, brought out more than 70,000 protesters, according to the interior ministry, and resulted in 500 arrests.

While most of the school protests have been peaceful, violence has occasionally broken out, and a police response seen as heavy-handed drove many to join Tuesday’s demonstrations.

One teen lost his hand to a police stun grenade earlier in the protests, while another lost an eye, and another lost teeth when an officer fired a teargas canister in his face.

Police have opened internal investigations into 34 allegations of brutality against demonstrators.

Some 147 teaching staff members have been injured in the protests, the education ministry said.

“We’re not giving up the fight, whether it’s for the high school students who were hit with a harsh crackdown, or for denouncing police violence,” said Patricia, a 20-year-old university student in Paris who did not give her last name.

Some Indian tourists who wandered into the demonstration by city hall said they were unnerved.

“Initially we were terrified,” said Snehil Jain, a 45-year-old visiting Paris for a week with his wife.

“We had seen the media images of violence around these protests. But then we saw it was a peaceful protest, so we were OK then.”

France’s education ministry said 214 schools, mostly high schools, were closed Tuesday.

University student union l’Union Etudiante reported 90 percent of universities had closed nationwide to show support.

French students say they are determined to press their demands for solutions to too many absent teachers, dilapidated buildings, overcrowded schedules and other grievances.

They have dismissed a government pledge – made after last week’s demonstrations – to immediately deploy 3,000 substitute teachers to the 114 worst-affected high schools.

“We are continuing the (school) blockades. We are not budging,” said Naouel, a high school student in Brest. She said she hoped the protests would continue after the half-term holidays, in two weeks’ time.

Mariolino, a 16-year-old in Nantes, concurred. “Those who think the anger will disappear with the holidays just don’t get it,” he said.

On Monday, Macron had urged restraint from protesters, saying the issues “deserve time, consultations, discussion and respect”.