Protests spread across France as Yellow Vests prepare to join

Paris, France – French newspaper Le Monde has described Saturday as "a day of many unknowns" as France braces for the possibility of nationwide protests bringing together high school students, unions and activists from the "Yellow Vests" movement.

According to Le Monde, the protests began in mid-September at a high school in the Paris suburb of Creteil. Students took to the streets to protest dilapidated facilities, overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and an education system they say is deeply unequal.

Since then, the movement has spread to thousands of high schools ("lycees") across the country. The protests have now begun to reflect broader anxieties as France comes under fiscal pressure, with a stagnant economy and growing social discontent. Teachers, unions and university students have also joined the movement.

On Saturday, some Yellow Vest activists – the remnants of the cost-of-living protest movement that shook President Emmanuel Macron's first term in 2018 – called on supporters to join the students.

"High school students are fighting for their future. Workers are fighting to earn a living through their labor. Retirees are fighting to keep their dignity. Our paths may differ, but our concerns can converge," said Jerome Rodrigues, a prominent Yellow Vest figure, in a video released last week calling on people to join Saturday's protests.

France now waits to see whether these calls translate into a large, coordinated mobilization.

War-like injuries

Officials describe the unrest as one of the most violent episodes in decades, with more than 900 police officers injured since the protests began. Critics, however, argue that while some protesters have acted violently, they are a minority and that the actions of a small group risk overshadowing the grievances of the broader movement.

The government has also been criticized for its response to the protests, including detaining thousands of minors and using force against young protesters. According to reports published during the week, more than 6,700 children have been taken into police custody since mid-September.

Human rights lawyers say some teenagers have suffered serious, war-like injuries. Two cases stand out in particular: a 15-year-old boy lost his hand when a stun grenade exploded outside a school in the northern city of Lens, and a 16-year-old boy in the western city of Tours lost his sight from a rubber bullet injury.

There are fears of further clashes on Saturday. "This is a moment of national fatigue. We are in an atmosphere of permanent crisis: war, inflation and issues surrounding purchasing power," Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu said on Thursday.

The government accuses the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party of inciting the protests. The party denies the accusation. While France has suspended the use of stun grenades at student protests, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Friday that he had authorized police to use the weapon in what he called cases of "urban violence." Nunez also said Saturday's turnout was expected to be "fairly large."

Hundreds of protest sites

Calls on social media for veterans of previous protest movements to join the current one have been circulating for weeks. The website 17octobregiletjaune.net, which tracks Yellow Vest activity, lists more than 1,750 planned protest sites across the country.

The government has tried to ease student anger by scrapping plans to raise some university registration fees and pledging to deploy 3,000 replacement teachers to high schools. During the week, the government set up a nationwide online survey to hear students' concerns.

However, Mathieu Roger-Lacan, a French literature teacher in a disadvantaged area and author of the book "A Language of One's Own" about the growing language gap, argues these measures do not address the deeper problem: an education system that struggles to guarantee equal opportunity.

"If you have a leaking swimming pool, the answer is not to pour in more water but to fix its structure – and that also costs money," he said. According to Roger-Lacan, the issue is not only how much France spends on education but how those resources are allocated.

Students complain not only about crumbling school buildings and overcrowded classrooms but also express deeper worries about the future. For many, a diploma is no longer a guarantee of stable employment or social advancement. This anxiety is compounded by questions about education quality, amid evidence of long-standing weaknesses in French students' academic results.

"There is a gap between the diploma we award at the end of schooling, granted to a very large share of the population, and the reality around us, which is that many young students struggle greatly even to write French," Roger-Lacan said.

Competing demands

The protests come at a very difficult time for the government, which is caught between demands for better-funded public services and the need to curb France's debt.

The government recorded a deficit of 152.5 billion euros ($171.3 billion) last year, equivalent to 5.1% of France's gross domestic product (GDP). The European Union average, by contrast, is 3.1%. France's public debt has also risen to 115.6% of GDP, the third highest in the EU after Greece and Italy.

Lecornu's draft 2027 budget seeks to reduce the deficit through spending restraint and tax measures, including a freeze on public-sector pay and limits on pension increases. Whether the government can deliver those savings without deepening public anger remains an open question.

The debate touches a sensitive nerve in France, where the welfare state and access to public services remain central political issues. Macron's decision to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 triggered months of large-scale protests in 2023, exposing deep opposition to reforms many saw as unfairly burdening workers.

Now, as the government prepares its next budget, it faces the challenge of convincing the public that spending cuts and other savings are necessary without further eroding trust in public institutions. The political stakes are high. The budget bill will be debated in a deeply divided parliament as parties position themselves ahead of the 2027 presidential election, which marks the end of Macron's presidency.