Hundreds of Thousands Join Fresh Protests Over Prices and Social Strain in France as Student Protests Continue

Paris: Demonstrations swept across France on Saturday as the school-led protest movement merged with alleged activists from the “yellow vest” (gilets jaunes) campaign, turning a dispute over crumbling classrooms into a nationwide challenge to President Emmanuel Macron’s government over living costs and public services.

Hundreds of thousands of people took part, according to media reports, with the day ending in tear gas, looting, burning vehicles and about 400 arrests. Organisers had planned hundreds of mobilisations, including gatherings at roundabouts and service stations, a hallmark of the original 2018 movement, which began over fuel taxes.

The unrest began in mid-September at a high school in Creteil, in Paris’s suburbs, where students protested dilapidated buildings, overcrowded classes and teacher shortages. It has since widened to cover high prices, fuel costs, inequality and weak public spending, drawing in teachers and unions.

Saturday’s protests called for teachers and students, labourers, pensioners and farmers to join the protests and widen the movement.

The CGT, one of France’s biggest labour unions, has also backed the protests, calling for “higher wages and pensions, lower prices and the protection of public services that meet people’s needs”.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday that authorities feared unrest. The government accused the hard-left France Unbowed party of inflaming the protests, which it denies. France’s internal police watchdog is investigating at least two dozen alleged cases of police violence, and while stun grenades were suspended for student protests, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said they could be used on Saturday.