Without any clear direction or signal, the crowd starts moving, chanting slogans, insulting president Emmanuel Macron. We move forward without knowing where we were going, what we were looking for, or what to do. Our yellow vests are a symbol of grievance, demand, encouragement. They speak of an out-of-touch president, of those who gorge themselves on the country’s wealth, and of the few euros that remain in the hands of a nurse, a soldier, or shopkeeper. Confronted by the police vans and their helmeted troops, protestors chant “You too, are treated like dogs, you deserve better too.”

But as the police prevent the march from reaching city hall, frustration mounts. “Dirty rats, look at the cop, the dirty scab, he wanted to put on a yellow vest! Come on then, friend, come on!” Everyone mocks one small man, a supposed undercover cop, who slinks away.

When a gap opens in one blockade, the crowd streams through to the city center. Shoppers scatter at the Galeries Lafayette department store, the luxury boutiques, and the Place de la Libération, as the Marseillaise echoes on the storefronts. The day has finally begun. “Macron, resign! Macron, resignation!” the Yellow Vests shout. The march has swelled with people from all walks of life, intoxicated with their own power and the mulled wine sold along the street. Six thousand people are here, regional television will later report.

When we return again to the metal barricade that blocks access to the city hall, it is early evening. The police have gathered their vans and troops. One of them, speaking into a megaphone, asks the crowd to disperse. Some respond with projectiles. Tear gas begins to rain from the sky, and the people retreat, their eyes full of tears, before rushing in again with more songs, slogans and projectiles. Tear gas rains down again. And so on.

President Emmanuel Macron’s attempt to quell violent rioting across France by offering economic concessions to his countrymen — expected to cost the country $11 billion — appears to have been insufficient. Leaders of the “Yellow Vest” protest movement indicated Tuesday that Macron’s offers were not enough, as hundreds of students staged a “Black Tuesday” of protests over Macron’s education policies and voiced solidarity with the Yellow Vests.

Macron took to the national airwaves to address the spiraling crisis for the first time on Monday. He announced an increase in the minimum wage, tax cuts for retirees and other concessions aimed at calming the streets.

But CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata reported on Tuesday morning from Paris that another day of Saturday demonstrations — the mass-protests which have been seized upon by extremists of all stripes for four weeks in a row — still appeared on the cards.

A leader of the Yellow Vest movement indicated that the demonstrations would go ahead. Christophe Chalencon, a blacksmith from southern France who has become a leader of the protest movement, told the Reuters news agency that Macron’s peace offering was not enough.

The crisis began as protests against a planned fuel tax hike (which Macron has abandoned), but quickly mushroomed into a broad and visceral demonstration of anti-government resentment aimed squarely at the president, who is seen by many as being out of touch with the working French.

“Black Tuesday” for student protesters

The Yellow Shirt movement gained new support on Tuesday from another group of French citizens angry over changes brought in by Macron’s government: students.

There has been a fierce reaction from high school and university-aged students to new standardized testing policies, a lack of college enrolment places available to graduates, and new requirements for graduates to secure those places.

One student protesting in Paris on Tuesday, who gave only his first name, said he saw a “link” with the Yellow Vests over what he called “despair in the society.”

“On the part of students, we’re tired of not being listened to. There’s no chance to be listened to, we’re not being taken seriously. Our claims are not being taken seriously,” Dragan told Reuters. “The interest in the Yellow Vests is that if we go under the same banner, the more we are, the easier it will be to make each other heard and bring forward each other’s cause.”