As students protest police brutality in Paris, police rally too to seek better work conditions

Students carry garbage cans and barriers to block the entrance of Paris Buffon high school, in Paris, France, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014. Students block high schools around Paris in protest against authorities and in solidarity with Remi Fraisse, a 21-year-old environmental activist who died during clashes between security forces and protesters of the Sivens dam project. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) (The Associated Press)

Garbage cans and barriers block the entrance to Paris Buffon high school, in Paris, France, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014. Students block high schools around Paris in protest against authorities and in solidarity with Remi Fraisse, a 21-year-old environmental activist who died during clashes between security forces and protesters of the Sivens dam project. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) (The Associated Press)

Students move garbage cans to block the entrance of Paris Buffon high school, in Paris, France, Thursday, Nov. 13, 2014. Students block high schools around Paris in protest against authorities and in solidarity with Remi Fraisse, a 21-year-old environmental activist who died during clashes between security forces and protesters of the Sivens dam project. (AP Photo/Francois Mori) (The Associated Press)

Hundreds of students are barricading school entrances across Paris and demonstrating in protests against alleged police brutality, just as a major union of police officers staged its own rally to demand more personnel and equipment.

The separate demonstrations on Thursday come three weeks after a young environmentalist died during a protest in southern France in which several hundred activists opposed to a dam project clashed with police.

An investigation is continuing into the death of Remi Fraisse, but an autopsy found a large wound on his back was caused by some kind of explosion.

Students stacked trash cans before doors at several Paris high schools, as about 150 students marched from the Place de la Nation. The Alliance police union was leading its demonstration at nearby Place de la Bastille.