Tens of thousands of people joined rallies across France on Tuesday to support protesting high school students, boosting a movement that poses a major challenge to President Emmanuel Macron as his term in office winds down. Some 161,500 people turned out, according to the interior ministry– more than double the 71,500 it gave for the last nationwide demonstrations on Thursday last week. Unions helping organise Tuesday's rallies put the countrywide turnout at 480,000.
Read moreLive: French students ‘not giving up the fight’ as 480,000 join new day of school protests The numbers suggested snowballing street opposition to the government just six months before France votes for a successor to Macron, who is completing his maximum second mandate. On Saturday, national demonstrations against the spiralling cost of living are to take place, and unions and student groups see the two protest currents fusing together. The agitation comes as Macron's centrist government struggles to get a cost-cutting budget through parliament, in the face of worsening debt that has spooked the bond market.
Although most of Tuesday's demonstrations were peaceful, violence occurred on the sidelines of one of two marches in Paris, where the interior ministry said 41,500 people participated. journalists saw some cars set on fire and police fired tear gas as masked youths tried to erect barricades across roads and threw objects. Tear gas was also fired during a demonstration in Lyon. Among those taking part in a demonstration in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis was Swedish activist Greta Thunberg.
She said she was there because "our future is being robbed". Swedish activist Greta Thunberg speaks with students as they prepare to take part in a blockade at the Lycee Paul Eluard in Saint-Denis, on the outskirts of Paris on October 13, 2026. © Julien de Rosa, University students were prominent in Tuesday's demonstrations, alongside teachers and union leaders. They were also backed by far-left opposition France Unbowed (LFI) party, whose chief, presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Melenchon, was seen among crowds in Paris.
Thousands also marched in the cities of Nantes, Lyon, Lens, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Marseille, according to police and reporters. "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 Emeline, outside a Marseille school.
"We're here because we really feel we're not being heard by the government," said Nina, 17. The student movement sprang up last month, with teenagers at France's lycees– high schools for those aged 15 to 18– blocking the entrances to many schools to demand better classroom conditions. Read moreWhat France's student protesters want – and what the government is offering Perceived heavy-handed reactions from police against the students drove many to join Tuesday's demonstrations.
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