LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The protests in France that started with high school students and overtook the country show no signs of dying down. A record number of protesters were in the streets on Thursday. More protests are planned for tomorrow. The French government is desperate to end a movement that has also seen bouts of violence and looting around demonstrations, and a presidential election is just six months away. We go to NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris for the latest. Good morning, Eleanor.
ELEANOR BEARDSLEY, BYLINE: Good morning, Leila.
FADEL: So you were out there. How were the protests yesterday?
BEARDSLEY: Well, very joyous and massive.
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BEARDSLEY: There was between 600,000 and a million people in the streets, that's according to the interior ministry and the unions, but it's huge either way. People carried signs and banners and just seemed to be having a good time. There wasn't much violence. There were some scuffles between police and young boys who cover their faces, and they seem ready to fight with police that are not necessarily linked to the protests. Sometimes that happens after the marches. The government has blamed far-left extremist groups for that. But - and there was also a school that was partially burned down. But mostly they were peaceful. I spoke with Dominique Moisi, who's head of the Montaigne Institut, a public policy think tank, and he says we're in an unprecedented moment.
DOMINIQUE MOISI: Power is largely absent today. Macron is rejected by a majority of the French, the prime minister barely surviving. It's a strange situation because elections are taking place in less than six months.
FADEL: What do protesters want?
BEARDSLEY: Well, the students wanted more teachers and better facilities, but now the demands are a lot bigger, as are the protests that draw a huge swath of society, including unions, public sector workers. These are working-class people, and they say they're not making it. They say energy and food prices are too high, salaries are too low and they say there are glaring inequalities. Protesters say the rich are doing fine. They blame President Macron for the situation - he has been in power for 10 years. And these protesters, who are from the left, even the far left, call him a president of the rich. Now, the government has made some concessions, but the demonstrators have the wind in their sails, and they say they won't back down until they get more. I spoke with two 24-year-old landscape architecture students, Sarah Jeanpierre (ph) and Prune Buchardeau (ph), and I asked them if the movement would continue.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: Yes, of course.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: For me, the new generation, we think it's already win for us. We have to continue the manifestations...
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: Yeah, of course.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: ...But...
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: All the system, capitalism and, you know, the structure with the governance is not a balance.
FADEL: So what is the government's next move?
BEARDSLEY: Well, the prime minister today is meeting with the heads of major French companies, and the government will hold an urgent meeting Monday morning between companies and union heads. But the prime minister has little wiggle room. France has huge debt, high borrowing costs and protesters are demanding to reinstate attacks on the ultra-wealthy, which Macron got rid of in his first term. They say the money is there. It's in the hands of the rich, and analyst Moisi says addressing that perception of wide inequality is key to ending this.
MOISI: Something has to move in order to restore some kind of equality amongst Frenchmen, because the explosion of inequality is really behind what we have been witnessing since the beginning of these demonstrations.
BEARDSLEY: There's some question of who these demonstrations are going to benefit. Moisi says if there's more violence around the protests, that would benefit the far-right party of Marine Le Pen. She's saying she'll restore order, and today's polls show her in first place.
FADEL: That's NPR's Eleanor Beardsley in Paris. Thank you, Eleanor.
BEARDSLEY: Thank you, Leila.
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