Protests are spreading across France ahead of a Saturday that many observers see as uncertain. High school students, trade unions and “yellow vest” activists are expected to take to the streets together, and the government is bracing for possible nationwide demonstrations in cities across the country.
The movement began in mid-September at a high school in Creteil, a Paris suburb, where students protested over dilapidated buildings, overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages. They say the education system is deeply unequal. Since then, the protests have spread to thousands of lycées, or upper secondary schools, across France.
Students, unions and yellow vests move toward joint protests
Teachers, trade unions and university students have now joined the movement. Analysts quoted in the coverage say it increasingly reflects wider anxieties about a country dealing with fiscal pressure, weak economic growth and rising social discontent.
On Saturday, some yellow vest activists called on supporters to join the students. These activists are remnants of the grassroots cost-of-living protests that shook the first term of President Emmanuel Macron in 2018. In a video message released last week, Jerome Rodrigues, a prominent yellow vest activist, urged people to join the demonstrations. He said the paths of different groups may differ, but their concerns can converge.
France is now waiting to see whether these calls will produce a large, coordinated mobilisation. A website that tracks yellow vest actions, 17octobregiletjaune.net, listed more than 1,750 planned protest locations across the country. Calls on social media for people from past protest movements to join the current one have been circulating for weeks.
Police tactics and detentions draw criticism
Authorities have described the unrest as among the most violent in decades. They said more than 900 police officers have been injured since the protests began. Critics responded that although some demonstrators have used violence, they represent a minority, and that the actions of a few risk overshadowing the grievances of the wider movement.
The government has also faced criticism over its handling of the demonstrations. Reports published this week said more than 6,700 children had been taken into police custody since mid-September. Human rights lawyers said several teenage students had suffered serious injuries, which they described as warlike.
Two cases have drawn particular attention. A 15-year-old boy lost a hand in the explosion of a stun grenade outside a school in the northern city of Lens. In the western city of Tours, a 16-year-old lost his sight after an injury caused by a rubber bullet.
France suspended the use of stun grenades during student demonstrations. However, Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said on Friday that he had authorised police to use them in the event of what he called “urban violence”. He also said he expected a “fairly significant” turnout on Saturday. The government has accused the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party of inflaming the protests, an accusation the party has rejected.
Government concessions and the debate over school funding
The government has tried to calm student anger. It scrapped plans to increase some higher education registration fees and promised to deploy 3,000 substitute teachers to high schools. This week it also set up a national online survey so pupils could share their concerns.
Mathieu Roger-Lacan, a French literature teacher in a disadvantaged area and author of a book on the growing language gap, argued that these steps do not address the deeper problem. In his view, the education system struggles to provide equal opportunities. He compared the situation to a leaking pool, saying the answer is not to add more water but to repair its structure, which also costs money. For him, the issue is less about how much France spends on education than about how it distributes those resources.
A government report published this week said that 32 percent of the education ministry’s budget for next year will go towards funding the pensions of retired civil servants. Students are also expressing anxiety about their future. Many no longer see a diploma as a guarantee of stable employment or social mobility, a concern compounded by questions about the quality of teaching.
In September, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) said French 15-year-olds’ results in mathematics and reading had fallen to among their lowest levels on record. Roger-Lacan said there is a gap between the diplomas awarded at the end of school and the reality that many students face, including difficulties with basic French writing.
Deficit, debt and the 2027 budget dilemma
The protests come at a difficult moment for the government, which must balance demands for better-funded public services with the need to reduce France’s debt. The government recorded a deficit of 152.5 billion euros ($171.3 billion) last year, equal to 5.1 percent of gross domestic product. The European Union average is 3.1 percent. Public debt rose to 115.6 percent of GDP, the third highest in the EU after Greece and Italy.
Prime Minister Sebastian Lecornu’s proposed 2027 budget aims to narrow the deficit through spending restraint and tax measures. These include a freeze on public sector pay and limits on pension increases. Whether those savings can be achieved 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 are central political issues. Macron’s decision to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 triggered months of mass demonstrations in 2023, which revealed strong opposition to reforms that many saw as unfairly burdening workers.
Lecornu said on Thursday that the country was experiencing a moment of fatigue. “We are in an atmosphere of perma-crisis: wars, inflation and issues surrounding purchasing power,” he said. The budget will be debated in a deeply divided parliament, as parties position themselves ahead of the 2027 presidential election, which will mark the end of Macron’s presidency.
