Paris: France's Yellow Vest movement is seeking to harness weeks of student unrest and broader anger over the cost of living in nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, raising fears of a return to the street violence that shook President Emmanuel Macron's government eight years ago.
Yellow Vest groups, high school and university students, and trade unions have called on people to take to the streets on 17 October, with protests planned across France.
In Paris, posters announcing the return of the Yellow Vests have appeared on the streets, while online maps list meeting points and demonstrations across the country. Organisers are seeking to bring together grievances ranging from education and working conditions to purchasing power and the cost of living.
"It's important that the Yellow Vests, people of all generations, are there to say 'we stand with the young people, their demands are exactly our own'," said Michel, a Yellow Vest protester who joined a student demonstration in Paris this week.
High school students have been demonstrating for weeks over conditions in schools, with their movement increasingly drawing support from other groups. Student representatives met Education Minister Edouard Geffray on Thursday but said afterwards they had failed to obtain the response they wanted and would continue their mobilisation.
"Beyond the high school students' movement, the fact that we'll all be out in the streets this Saturday shows that there is a general, collective anger," said Alicante, a high school student taking part in a protest in Paris.
The prospect of Yellow Vest demonstrators returning to the streets evokes memories of the movement that erupted in 2018 and developed into one of the biggest challenges to Macron's presidency. Some demonstrations descended into clashes with police, including on 1 December 2018, when protesters rioted around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday that the government recognised legitimate grievances among students but feared the demonstrations were evolving beyond a student movement into what he described as "urban violence".
On the streets of Paris, some residents said they understood the protesters' frustration even if they worried about violence.
"The demands are a bit of a hodgepodge, but they're legitimate," said 66-year-old pensioner Bernard Regis. "There's a deep-seated sense of discontent that will have to be addressed sooner or later."