Greta Thunberg Joins France's Student Protests in Their Third Week

Greta Thunberg joined demonstrating high school students in France on October 13, 2026.

The 23-year-old, who became famous as a teenager through school strikes demanding action on the climate crisis, spoke with students at the Lycée Paul Éluard in Saint-Denis and spoke to reporters outside the school in the Paris suburb, according to The Guardian. Her presence placed an internationally known protest figure alongside pupils campaigning for better learning conditions in France, as reported by AFP and Le Monde.

The French student protests were in their third week on Oct. 13. Students cite concrete problems: teacher shortages, overcrowded classes and crumbling buildings. Education Minister Édouard Geffray said 3,000 substitute teachers were being deployed to schools facing severe staff shortages. He expected about 200 of France's 3,700 high schools to be completely closed on Tuesday, Oct. 13.

Scale is contested but substantial. Marches drew more than 260,000 protesters last Tuesday and a further 75,000 on Thursday, according to French interior ministry figures. More than 6,800 people, mainly minors (people under 18), had been detained during the protests, according to government figures. About 1,500 people are being prosecuted in connection with the protests, according to the justice ministry.

The policing of the demonstrations has become a separate dispute. Twenty-four allegations of police brutality against demonstrators are under investigation. Lawyers in robes formed a human chain to protect pupils amid accusations of police brutality. More than 200 teenagers, 100 school staff and 700 police officers have been injured in the protests.

Three serious injuries have focused attention on crowd-control weapons, tools police use to break up crowds. One young protester lost a hand from a police stun grenade, an explosive device meant to stun, prompting the government to ban their use during the protests. Another protester lost the use of an eye and a third lost many teeth from a teargas canister fired at close range.

President Emmanuel Macron called for restraint on Oct. 12, saying "the issues deserve time, consultations, discussion and respect."

The broader context here is the interaction between a domestic education dispute and transnational protest politics. French lycée mobilizations, meaning high school protests, have their own pattern rooted in unions, parent associations, ministerial talks and the school calendar. The arrival of an outside figure does not change those bargaining lines. It changes visibility. For diplomats and policymakers watching France, the question is whether international attention hardens positions or creates space for mediation.

Looking at what this means for the government, Paris now faces two negotiations at once. The first is over staffing, class size and building maintenance. The second is over the legitimacy of its policing. The deployment of substitutes addresses the first in the short term. The ban on stun grenades during the protests addresses the second. Neither resolves the underlying claims. With detentions concentrated among minors, prosecutions proceeding, and injury investigations open, the legal aftermath will continue after the street mobilization subsides. That aftermath, more than any single day of marches, will shape how the third week is remembered.