By Elizabeth Pineau
PARIS, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of people are expected to protest across France on Saturday, as students, trade unionists and remnants of the Yellow Vest movement join forces to demonstrate against high prices and the country's fraying social model.
The initial wave of protests began last month at high schools in Paris' poor northern suburbs, where anger over teacher absences and shabby facilities quickly morphed into a nationwide movement against inequality, weak public
spending and falling standards.
The protests come at a difficult time for France, as President Emmanuel Macron enters the final stretch of his presidency, leaving behind a polarised electorate and a fragmented domestic political situation. Investors ditching French debt, driving borrowing costs to their highest levels in more than two decades, have also underlined the country's long struggle to get its public finances in order.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu said on Thursday that authorities fear unrest during the protests. The government blames the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) for inflaming the protests, an accusation LFI denies.
"This is a moment of fatigue in the country," Lecornu said. "We are in an atmosphere of perma-crisis: wars, inflation, and issues surrounding purchasing power."
Opposition chief Jordan Bardella, whose far-right National Rally leads in the polls ahead of next year's presidential election, said he expected violence.
"I'm extremely concerned," he said during a visit to the Paris car show. "It will be a day of chaos for France."
VIOLENT PROTESTS
Lecornu has said the protests have been among the most violent in decades, with more than 900 police injured since the start of the protests. The police have also drawn criticism for their response due to a grisly list of injuries, including one adolescent who had his hand blown off after picking up a stun grenade.
The internal police watchdog is investigating at least two dozen cases of alleged police violence. France suspended the use of stun grenades for the student demonstrations, but Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said they could be used in Saturday's protest.
"If there were to be clashes, all types of intermediate weapons can be used," he told Telematin on Friday.
Calls on social media for members of past protest movements to join the fray appear to have worked, raising questions about just how large the protests could grow.
The Yellow Vest movement started in 2018 as a protest against taxes on diesel before morphing into an outpouring of anger at high living costs and income inequality. However, things have been largely quiet since Macron agreed to billions of euros in tax cuts.
Yannick Maillou, a teacher from La Crèche in western France, joined the Yellow Vests in 2018 and remains involved in the movement. He said there were several nearby meeting points for protesters to gather on Saturday, with unions also calling on their members to join.
"Groups of people providing medical assistance are forming in anticipation of police violence," he said.
Myrtil Devillers, another Yellow Vest protester, said he was sympathetic to the protesters' "explosive catch-all of grievances" although he won't be protesting on Saturday as he is abroad.
"I was a Yellow Vest protester when petrol cost €1.40 a litre, so imagine how I feel now that it's €2.20," he said.
"The justice system is complaining; the education system is complaining; the healthcare sector is complaining; my friends who run businesses are complaining."
(Reporting by Elizabeth Pineau; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
