Tear gas and water cannons deployed as French police clash with students on new day of Paris school protests

Water cannons were deployed in the French capital on Tuesday afternoon while video footage shows one injured police officer being carried away

Students in Paris have clashed with riot police again amid nationwide protests over poor school conditions across the country.

Climate activist Greta Thunberg joined demonstrators outside a blockaded high school in the capital city while vehicles were set on fire.

Some of the students could be seen pushing a coffin with a board read "Youths", while others held placards and chanted as they made their way through the streets.

Tear gas and water cannons were deployed in an effort to disperse the crowds which grew stronger through Tuesday afternoon.

Read more: French police clash with protesters at Paris students' demonstration as Bordeaux police station 'attacked by arsonists'

Read more: Oldest covered food market in Paris 'completely destroyed' in fire

French interior ministry said that 161,500 turned out for protests, with 41,500 in Paris.

Video footage shows hoards of police gathering in the street equipped with shields and batons as they charge down one of the streets.

Fires were set to cars and parts of the road and one officer could be seen injured while being carried away by two colleagues.

It comes after multiple people were injured after police clashed with students, teachers and parents in the same area last week.

An estimated 200,000 people took to the streets to demonstrate where youngsters held aloft smoke flares and placards reading "Under our school books, anger" and "Where are the politicians? Do they even know we exist?"

Elsewhere in the city of Strasbourg on Tuesday, demonstrators gathered before setting off on a march through the centre.

Adeline Ferier, 42, a secondary school literature teacher and member of the SNES-FSU trade union, said she was demonstrating "first and foremost in support of her 16-year-old daughter".

She told AFP: "I think it’s great that young people are aware of inequalities and are taking action.

You can’t have a budget with 1,500 fewer posts and then pretend to pull 3,000 posts out of a hat."

As of last week, France's interior ministry said 6,100 arrests had been made since the protests began, with the overwhelming majority of them being minors.

More than 200 high schoolers, 800 police officers and 147 school staff members have been injured in total.

Rights groups have accused police ​of using heavy-handed tactics against minors, including batons, tear gas and flash-ball guns.

A teenager's hand was also blown off as protesters clashed with riot police in northern France on Monday.