Anti-Israel climate activist Greta Thunberg was spotted on the streets of Paris on Tuesday after announcing she would join the violent student protests that have brought chaos and destruction across France in recent weeks.
Thunberg, the Swedish activist who previously attempted to "break the blockade" on Gaza and was arrested, wore a Palestinian keffiyeh to signal her alignment with the protest movement.
Her first stop was a high school in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis, a neighbourhood where most residents are Muslim or African immigrants and which is known for crime and drug trafficking.
What began as a protest over legitimate student grievances has become identified with the left and Jean-Luc Mélenchon's far-left LFI party, with dozens of Palestinian flags visible in the crowds — and not a single French flag.
A presenter on a right-wing French channel, noting Thunberg's presence among the protesters, questioned the keffiyeh associated with "the Palestinian struggle." "I don't understand what this keffiyeh has to do with the student protests," the host said.
Following the resumption of protests, Education Minister Édouard Geffray told France Inter radio on Tuesday morning that around 200 schools were closed, "fewer than last week."
Several thousand young people and activists took part on Tuesday in the fifth wave of "student protests" at two main sites in Paris. The organisers' goal is to revive the mass demonstrations that led to chaos and destruction across the country before subsiding in recent days.
France was shaken on Monday evening by a shooting incident in the town of Aubin, when a 14-year-old student opened fire with a hunting rifle, wounding a teacher and a principal. It is not yet clear whether there is any connection between the student protests and the shooting. The student was arrested by police.
