{"id":2820,"date":"2026-10-17T11:03:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T06:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2820"},"modified":"2026-10-17T11:03:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T06:03:53","slug":"students-trade-unions-and-yellow-vests-set-to-protest-across-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2820","title":{"rendered":"Students, trade unions and Yellow Vests set to protest across France"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Tens of thousands of people are expected to protest across France on Saturday, as students, trade unionists and remnants of the Yellow Vest movement join forces to demonstrate against high prices and the country\u2019s fraying social model.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The initial wave \u200bof protests began last month at high schools in Paris\u2019 poor northern suburbs, where anger over teacher absences and \u200cshabby facilities quickly morphed into a nationwide movement against inequality, weak public spending and falling standards.<\/p>\n

The protests come at a difficult time for France, as President Emmanuel Macron enters the final stretch of his presidency<\/a>, leaving behind a polarised electorate and a fragmented domestic political situation. Investors ditching French debt, driving borrowing costs to \u200btheir highest levels in more than two decades<\/a>, have also underlined the country\u2019s long struggle to get its public finances<\/a> in \u200border.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday that authorities fear unrest during the protests<\/a>. The government blames the \u2060hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) for inflaming the protests, an accusation LFI denies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a moment of fatigue in the country,\u201d Lecornu said. \u201cWe are \u200bin an atmosphere of perma-crisis: wars, inflation, and issues surrounding purchasing power.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opposition chief Jordan Bardella, whose far-right National Rally leads in the polls \u200bahead of next year\u2019s presidential election, said he expected violence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m extremely concerned,\u201d he said during a visit to the Paris car show. \u201cIt will be a day of chaos for France.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/a>Violent protests<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Lecornu has said the protests have been among the most violent in decades, with more than 900 police injured since the start \u200bof the protests. The police have also drawn criticism for their response due to a grisly list of injuries<\/a>, including one adolescent who \u200bhad his hand blown off after picking up a stun grenade.<\/p>\n

The internal police watchdog is investigating at least two dozen cases of alleged police violence. \u200cFrance suspended \u2060the use of stun grenades for the student demonstrations, but Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said they could be used in Saturday\u2019s protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there were to be clashes, all types of intermediate weapons can be used,\u201d he told Telematin on Friday.<\/p>\n

Calls on social media for members of past protest movements to join the fray appear to have worked, raising questions about just how large the protests could grow.<\/p>\n

The Yellow Vest movement started in 2018 as a protest against taxes on diesel before morphing into an outpouring of anger at high living costs and income inequality. However, things have been largely quiet since Macron agreed to billions of euros in tax cuts.<\/p>\n

Yannick Maillou, a \u200bteacher from La Cr\u00e8che in western France, joined the Yellow Vests in 2018 and remains involved in \u200bthe movement. He \u2060said there were several nearby meeting points for protesters to gather on Saturday, with unions also calling on their members to join.<\/p>\n

\u201cGroups of people providing medical assistance are forming in anticipation of police violence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Myrtil Devillers, another Yellow Vest protester, said he was sympathetic to the protesters\u2019 \u201cexplosive \u2060catch-all of \u200bgrievances\u201d although he won\u2019t be protesting on Saturday as he is abroad.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was \u200ba Yellow Vest protester when petrol cost \u20ac1.40 a litre, so imagine how I feel now that it\u2019s \u20ac2.20,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe justice system is complaining; the education system is complaining; \u200bthe healthcare sector is complaining; my friends who run businesses are complaining.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tens of thousands of people are expected to protest across France on Saturday, as students, trade unionists and remnants of the Yellow Vest movement join forces to demonstrate against high prices and the country\u2019s fraying social model. The initial wave \u200bof protests began last month at high schools in Paris\u2019 poor northern suburbs, where anger over teacher absences and \u200cshabby facilities quickly morphed into a nationwide movement against inequality, weak public spending and falling standards. The protests come at a difficult time for France, as President Emmanuel Macron enters the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}