Protesters clash with police during nationwide demonstrations in France

Paris, France – Marianne, the statue personifying of the French Republic, towers over Place de la Republique in Paris, wearing a yellow vest.

At the base of the monument, the faces of the three allegorical figures representing Liberty, Equality and Fraternity are streaked with black tears. Above them, tear gas canisters arc through the air, filling the square with smoke.

This was the scene as tens of thousands of protesters, mostly young people, rallied at the heart of the French capital on Saturday in the latest act of a movement that has been rocking France to the core for more than a month now, demanding better education and a fairer system.

“Everybody has come together asking the government for a final time to hear us loud and clear because it is not okay what is happening,” said a high school student who asked not to be identified, her fist raised in the air.

“We are here because we want to take back our rights,” she said.

The movement, hailed by some as a historical social movement, has gained cross-class, cross-working sector support, uniting groups including remnants of the ‘ yellow vest’ movement – the grassroots cost-of-living protests that shook France in 2018.

The presence of nurses, human rights lawyers, firefighters, parents, teachers and some remnants of the ‘yellow vests’ on Saturday was a testament to how pupils have catalysed a social discontent running deep across French society.

The CGT, one of France’s major labour unions, also backed the protests, calling for “higher wages and pensions, lower prices and the protection of public services that meet people’s needs.”