Protests Erupt Across France Over Living Costs and Education
Demonstrations nationwide combine concerns over rising prices with student grievances, echoing past movements.
Protesters across France called for street demonstrations Saturday against rising living costs, joining high school students' grievances over education conditions after more than three weeks of school blockades.
The mobilization follows calls on social media to revive the yellow vest movement, which emerged in 2018 against social injustice. Student groups protesting since mid-September have urged supporters to join.
The CGT, one of France’s major labor unions, also backs the protests, calling for "higher wages and pensions, lower prices and the protection of public services that meet people’s needs."
President Emmanuel Macron appealed Friday for calm and respect for people and property as officials warned of possible violence. "There is a constitutional right to protest and to express oneself... But this right comes with the need to respect. Respect for people, respect for property, and therefore a commitment not to insult or destroy," Macron said Friday in Brussels.
Macron denounced as "unacceptable" the potential presence of people "solely to cause damage and create unrest."
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said hundreds of protest actions and more than 80 marches were expected nationwide, including spontaneous gatherings, street demonstrations and blockades.
In Paris, a march was set to begin in the early afternoon at Republic Plaza, northeast of the city center. Police banned some other proposed gatherings in central Paris. Many Metro stations were closed Saturday at police request, including those around the Champs-Elysees and near the presidential palace, parliament and government offices.
In recent weeks, France has seen thousands of arrests, hundreds of injuries, and schools set on fire as the new school year descended into nationwide student protests that are influencing the country's presidential election campaign and drawing international attention.
Among protesters, particularly gruesome wounds suffered by some teenagers have been blamed on police riot-control weapons. Nuñez suspended the use of a type of police stun grenade against the young demonstrators after a 15-year-old lost a hand.
On Tuesday, climate and social justice activist Greta Thunberg joined students at a high school in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis.