France braces for more protests as some call for a revival of the Yellow Vest movement

He stepped between students and riot police during a recent demonstration in Paris. Ali Bagayoko is the mayor of Saint-Denis, a town in a suburb north of the capital. It's where the high school protests that have shaken France for nearly a month began. I put myself in the middle, both to protect others and to ask them to stop. The response to the legitimate demands of these high school students cannot be from the police. It must be a political response. A member of the left-wing party France Unbowed, Bagayoko says the government's failing young people in low-income towns like his. The state allocates fewer resources for working-class neighborhoods than the affluent Parisian neighborhoods. It's not only students who are calling on the government for more money and resources. As the cost of living rises, so is the number of people who say they're struggling financially. The main question is whether I can still afford to eat properly at the end of the month. We now spend more on fuel than on food because we need to get to work. If we don't work, we can't earn a living. It's a vicious circle. The impact of inflation and rising fuel costs is being felt by people across France, and that is deepening the sense of frustration among some with a government that they say doesn't listen and is out of touch. Eight years ago, similar grievances sparked yellow vest protests. Some are now calling for the movement to return to the streets alongside trade unions and students for a new wave of demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron and his policies. Thierry Vallette was one of the movement's organisers. He says he doesn't support its comeback, but he understands why people are calling for it. Citizens' anger is still real. Macron has been a divisive president whose mandate been marked by social unrest. He doesn't want to hear what people think. Add to that the geopolitical situation, Russia, Ukraine, Europe, and economic and social chaos. It's a difficult balancing act for the government. France's ballooning debt means ministers are trying to curb spending at a time when some people want more financial help. After being caught off guard by the scale of the student protests, there's little doubt that they'll want to prevent a revival of scenes like this. Natasha Butler, Al Jazeera, Paris.