Demonstrations take place across France to protest rising prices and social pressure

(Central News Agency, Paris, 17th, Comprehensive Foreign News Report) Demonstrations began across France today and are expected to evolve into a nationwide protest. People are dissatisfied with high prices and believe that the basic opportunities and social safety nets that governments should provide have collapsed.

Reuters reported that the wave of protests first broke out last month at a high school in a poor area in the northern suburbs of Paris. Anger among students over teacher shortages and decrepit school buildings quickly grew into a national movement fighting inequality, inadequate public spending and falling living standards.

Heavy police presence can be seen in central Paris, especially near famous landmarks such as the Avenue Des Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe. These locations were not on the march routes of the two sanctioned demonstrations.

Hundreds of other protests are planned across France, with tens of thousands expected to take part. Some protesters wearing reflective vests blocked the streets, recreating the scenes of protests during President Emmanuel Macron's "yellow vest" movement during his last term. In the southeastern city of Marseille, trash cans were set on fire.

A 19-year-old who called herself Lola at the Paris protest said: "We are fighting because the cost of living is too heavy and the price of oil is too high. Because high school students across the country just hope to get more teachers and a suitable learning environment through protests, but they are violently treated and even injured."

Macron enters the final stages of his presidency leaving behind a polarized electorate and a fragmented political landscape. France's long-standing efforts to bring down its spiraling public debt are clearly failing to convince investors. The continued flight of funds out of French government bonds has sent borrowing costs soaring to their highest level in more than 20 years.