🔴 Live: Greta Thunberg joins French student protests ahead of nationwide rallies

France faces fresh nationwide demonstrations on Tuesday as students, unions and opposition groups rally over poor school conditions, including teacher shortages and dilapidated buildings. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has joined protesters outside a blockaded high school near Paris, boosting the movement’s visibility even as authorities warn that violence is intensifying despite a decline in school closures. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates. Students block the entrance to the Lycée Montaigne in the 6th arrondissement (district) of Paris. A play on Delacroix's iconic "Liberty Guiding the People". Credit: Sarah Meyssonnier, Reuters Pupils in more affluent areas of Paris have joined the protests in solidarity with those in run-down suburbs of the French capital, calling for equal opportunities for all. Credit: Sarah Meyssonnier, Reuters Greta Thunberg joins France school protests Swedish activist Greta Thunberg has joined student protesters outside a blockaded high school in the Paris suburbs, boosting the visibility of the weeks-long movement. The 23-year-old, who became famous as a teen for school strikes to demand action on climate change, stood among pupils demonstrating outside the Paul-Eluard high school in the capital's largest suburb of Saint-Denis. Will first government measures take the steam out of protests? The French government has announced the urgent deployment of some 3,000 supply teachers to schools with the greatest staffing needs, after more than two weeks of sometimes violent nationwide student protests. But where exactly are these teachers coming from? And will the move be enough to quell fresh protests, especially amid a renewed debate about overzealous policing tactics? Absent teachers and dilapidated buildings While most of the protests have been peaceful, students say they are determined to press the government to address the problems of too many absent teachers, dilapidated buildings, overcrowded class schedules and other grievances. "Students aren't being heard enough ... not their proposals to authorities and elected officials," a 19-year-old graphic design student in Paris, Leo, said. France prepares for more nationwide protests France readied on Tuesday for fresh nationwide demonstrations supporting students who have been protesting against poor classroom conditions for weeks, with authorities and participants wary of further violence. The mobilisation, backed by unions and the far-left opposition France Unbowed party, was to include a march through Paris starting at 1200 GMT, along with marches in other cities. On Monday, only 130 of France's 3,700 lycees were closed, according to the education ministry, though it stated that, while "the number of school closures is falling ... the violence is intensifying". Welcome to the France 24 liveblog covering the student protests in France. You can catch up on recent developments here.