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.”
She joined and applauded hundreds of teenagers who demonstrated boisterously outside their school north of Paris under the watchful eye of police. The surprise appearance of the 23-year-old Swedish activist, best known for raising awareness about the climate crisis, and another day of marches in the French capital together suggested that the high-schoolers’ push for more resources for run-down schools is far from running out of steam. That’s despite mass arrests, mounting injuries and the fatigue from more than three weeks of blockading and demonstrating outside schools.
Outside the Paul Eluard 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.