After weeks of student protests, France is set to be swept by broader, nationwide demonstrations Saturday over the cost of living, setting up a potentially fraught period ahead of presidential elections next year.
The prospect of the two movements merging, perhaps with outbreaks of violence, poses a big challenge to the government — and an opportunity for far-left and far-right presidential candidates jockeying for power.
The country’s Yellow Vest movement called Saturday’s “yellow and youth” demonstrations and urged millions to turn out.
It has appealed to teachers, workers, pensioners and farmers, as well as students, in an online call spread through social media.“I have a feeling that (Saturday) will be a sort of culmination,” 18-year-old Marie-Lou, a protesting university student in the city of Lille, told AFP.
“We’ll be joined by workers and by the Yellow Vests, who are also mobilising again. There’s a sense of hope that all these different struggles might converge.”
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Thursday he feared clashes after what he called “urban violence” during the student protests.
Lecornu is under pressure to get a cost-cutting budget through parliament. It aims to tackle France’s growing public debt by raising more tax revenue and reducing expenditures.Yet the Yellow Vest and student movements are demanding the government spend more money.
