France braces for more nationwide protests as Yellow Vests urge 'mass disobedience'

French unions and student groups are scheduled to hold nationwide demonstrations on Saturday, November 7, to protest the rising cost of living and poor conditions in schools. These protests follow weeks of labor strikes and youth-led unrest involving hundreds of thousands of workers. While student groups and trade unions have called for an authorized march in central Paris, the Yellow Vests movement has planned a separate rally at Place de la Concorde. This Yellow Vest rally is proceeding despite a ban by authorities on demonstrations in that area.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez stated that 70,000 police officers and security forces will be deployed across the country. Addressing potential violence, Nunez said that security forces would be ready and waiting for any rioters or looters. Although demonstrations have been largely peaceful, Channel News Asia reports that there have been instances of vandalism and clashes with police on the sidelines of previous protests.

Brief written by urgent.news from France 24, RFI English, Channel News Asia, Daily Times, DW English (Top Stories) — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.