France braces for fresh protests as Yellow Vests defy Paris rally ban

Detailed summary

Authorities plan to deploy 70,000 security personnel nationwide as unions and students protest rising living costs and Yellow Vests call for “mass disobedience”.

French unions and student groups are set to take to the streets for another day of protests on Saturday, while the Yellow Vests movement plans a separate rally in central Paris despite a ban by authorities.

The demonstrations follow weeks of youth-led unrest and nationwide strikes that have drawn hundreds of thousands of workers onto the streets. They come less than six months before voters elect a successor to President Emmanuel Macron, with the far right leading in opinion polls.

Student groups and trade unions have organised an authorised march in central Paris “against the high cost of living and in support of young people”.

Yellow Vests activists have refused to join, instead calling for a rally at Place de la Concorde, near the lower house of parliament and the presidential palace, where authorities have banned demonstrations.

Opening of the article, excerpted from TRT World. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.