Associated Press

Protests are breaking out in Paris on the last day of campaigning before the French presidential election, with environmental activists dangling off the Eiffel Tower and students blocking the entrance to high schools.

Activists for Greenpeace slipped into the Eiffel Tower around 5 a.m. and hung a banner with the French national motto: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Six activists then rappelled down the tower’s archway.

The sign was removed about 45 minutes after it was unfurled.

The protest against Marine Le Pen, the far-right presidential candidate, came just two days before France’s election.

The French election campaign ends Friday ahead of Sunday's runoff between LePen and Emmanuel Macron. The two candidates vying to be France's 25th president have radically different views about the country's role in the world — about its values, culture and identity.

Meanwhile, the Paris school district says 10 high schools are completely or partially blocked by student protesters who say they oppose both presidential candidates.

About 100 students pulled garbage bins in front of the entrance to the Lycee Colbert in northeastern Paris, with cardboard signs saying “Neither Le Pen nor Macron, neither the fatherland nor the boss,” in a reference to Le Pen’s nationalist views and Macron’s pro-business ties.

Students at Lycee Buffon wrote an open letter calling on people to exercise their vote and recalled the fate of five students shot in 1943 for fighting the Nazis.

“I’m 15, 16, 17 or 18, I’m a student. Even if I’m not old enough to vote, I’m concerned,” the letter said. “Dear reader, you should know that Marine Le Pen’s France is not the France we love. Our France is beautiful, tolerant and cosmopolite. So go and vote on Sunday, for this France, this democracy.”