PARIS Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg said on Thursday that campaigners were being "systemically targeted with repression" in France, where she attending a finance summit.

"We are seeing extremely worrying developments where activists all over the world are experiencing increased repressions just for fighting for our present and our future," the 20-year-old Thunberg said.

"For example, here in France just the other day," she added. "They are paying the price for defending life and for the right to protest."

On Wednesday, the French government shut down the environmental activist group Les Soulevements de la Terre for provoking armed protests or violent actions, a move immediately criticized by the leftist opposition and NGOs.

The French interior ministry wasn't immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Richard Lough; Editing by Mark Potter)