The China Mail - France roiled by marches in support of protesting students

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 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 France Unbowed (LFI), whose chief, presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Melenchon, 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.

- Dialogue, 'not repression' -

Thousands also marched in the cities of Nantes, Lyon, Lens, Strasbourg, Bordeaux and Marseille, according to police and AFP 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 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 lycees -- 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.

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 when he picked up 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.

- 'Not budging' -

"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.

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".

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G.Tsang--ThChM