Protests spread across France as ‘yellow vests’ set to join

NEW: Protests spread across France against the cost of living as the 'yellow vests' prepare to join nationwide demonstrations, with authorities calling the unrest among the most violent in decades.

France is bracing for its biggest protest day in years, and the yellow vests are back.

It started in mid-September with high school students in Creteil, marching over crumbling buildings, overcrowded classrooms and teacher shortages. It has since spread to thousands of schools, pulling in teachers, unions and university students. You can see the scale of it here, Paris streets packed end to end.

Authorities call this some of the most violent unrest in decades, with more than 900 police injured. But the state's response is under fire too. More than 6,700 minors have been taken into custody since mid-September. A 15-year-old in Lens lost his hand to a stun grenade. A 16-year-old in Tours was blinded by a rubber bullet.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu calls it an atmosphere of perma-crisis. Today, yellow vest veterans like Jerome Rodrigues are calling their people into the streets beside the students. The last time that movement rose, it shook Macron's presidency. He will remember.

This is Liu Yang, reporting for HIT.