Greta Thunberg backs French high school protests over run-down schools

SAINT-DENIS, France -- SAINT-DENIS, France (AP) — 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 a school north of Paris under the watchful eye of police.The surprise appearance by the 23-year-old climate activist, along with another day of marches in the French capital and elsewhere, suggested that high school students' push for more resources for run-down schools is far from running out of steam. That's despite mass arrests, mounting injuries and fatigue from more than three weeks of blockading schools and demonstrating. Police used clouds of tear gas, water cannons and repeated charges to disperse protesters Tuesday when violence erupted on the fringes of the Paris marches. The Interior Ministry estimated that 161,500 people marched in demonstrations across the country, including 41,500 in Paris. Outside the Paul Éluard high school in Saint-Denis, where staff and students have long complained of dilapidated facilities and even rat infestations, Thunberg said French pupils are ...