Sawt Falasteen - Demonstrations backing France's protesting students gather strength

Some 161,500 people turned out, according to the interior ministry -- more than double the 71,500 it gave for the last nationwide demonstrations on Thursday last week.

Unions helping organise Tuesday's rallies put the countrywide turnout at 480,000.

The numbers suggested snowballing street opposition to the government just six months before France votes for a successor to Macron, who is completing his maximum second mandate.

On Saturday, national demonstrations against the spiralling cost of living are to take place, and unions and student groups see the two protest currents fusing together.

The agitation comes as Macron's centrist government struggles to get a cost-cutting budget through parliament, in the teeth of worsening debt that has spooked the bond market.

Although most of Tuesday's demonstrations were peaceful, violence occurred on the sidelines of one of two marches in Paris, where the interior ministry said 41,500 people participated.

AFP journalists saw some cars set on fire and police fired tear gas as masked youths tried to erect barricades across roads and threw objects. Tear gas was also fired during a demonstration in Lyon.

Among those taking part in a demonstration in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis was Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. She said she was there because "our future is being robbed".

University students were prominent in Tuesday's demonstrations, alongside teachers and union leaders.

They were also backed by far-left opposition France Unbowed (LFI) party, whose chief, presidential hopeful Jean-Luc Melenchon, was seen among crowds in Paris.

- Dialogue, 'not repression' -

Thousands also marched in the cities of Nantes, Lyon, Lens, Strasbourg, Toulouse, 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 Emeline, outside a Marseille school.

"We're here because we really feel we're not being heard by the government," said Nina, 17.

The student movement sprang up 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.

Perceived heavy-handed reactions from police against the students drove many to join Tuesday's demonstrations.

One teen lost his hand when he picked up a police stun grenade during the protests, while another lost an eye, and another teeth when an officer fired a teargas canister in his face.

Police have opened internal investigations into 34 allegations of violence against demonstrators.

Some 147 teaching staff 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 Paris demonstration 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 over absent teachers, dilapidated buildings, overcrowded schedules and other grievances.

They have dismissed a government pledge -- made after last week's demonstrations -- to send 3,000 substitute teachers to the 114 worst-affected 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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H.Darwish--SF-PST