France's Yellow Vests Return to Streets as Protests Merge with Student Demands

France's "Yellow Vests" movement returned to the streets on Saturday, protesting the high cost of living and declining public services, converging with ongoing student demonstrations over education conditions. Protesters blocked roads and set fire to garbage containers in Marseille, recalling unrest from President Emmanuel Macron's previous term. The protests began last month in high schools in Paris's poor northern suburbs, where anger over teacher shortages and poor facilities grew into a nationwide movement against inequality and weak public spending. Heavy police presence was seen in central Paris, particularly near the Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triomphe, which were excluded from official march routes. Macron enters the final phase of his presidency with a divided electorate and fragmented political landscape. His efforts to reduce public debt have failed to reassure investors, pushing borrowing costs to their highest in over two decades. Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said Thursday that authorities fear unrest, and the government accused the leftist France Unbowed party of fueling the protests, a claim the party denies. The Yellow Vests movement began in 2018 over diesel fuel taxes before expanding into broader anger over living costs and income inequality, though conditions had remained largely calm since Macron approved billions in tax cuts.