France was swept by a wave of demonstrations on Thursday as protesters declared a nationwide “day of anger” against President Emmanuel Macron’s economic plans. The mobilisations led to mass rallies, school closures, transport paralysis, shuttered pharmacies and large-scale disruption across several public services. Security forces anticipated clashes with demonstrators as the movement gathered momentum in towns and cities across the country.
At the centre of the unrest is Macron’s new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, who was sworn in only last week as the seventh person to take the role under the president. Promising a fresh start during a continuing political crisis, Lecornu has nevertheless failed to calm the discontent of unions and left-wing groups. Anger remains concentrated on the €44 billion cost-cutting budget drafted by former prime minister François Bayrou, a plan that unions see as an attack on public services. Lecornu’s promises to abolish life-long perks for premiers and to drop the highly unpopular proposal of scrapping two public holidays have not shifted the tide of opposition.
Trade unions and opposition parties are demanding a reversal of the fiscal package left behind by the previous government, more investment in healthcare and education, higher taxation of the wealthy, and the cancellation of the pension reform that raised the retirement age. “The workers we represent are angry,” union leaders declared in a joint statement, describing the economic measures as “brutal” and “unfair.” An Interior Ministry official told the Associated Press that as many as 800,000 people were expected to take part in the strikes and marches.
Industrial action cut across almost every sector. Roughly one third of teachers stayed away from classrooms nationwide, with even higher numbers reported in Paris, where almost one in two refused to work. According to the FSU-SNUipp union, strike action was strongly felt in primary schools. Students themselves joined the mobilisation, blocking access to secondary schools such as Maurice Ravel in Paris, where around 300 pupils stood with placards reading “block your school against austerity.”
Public transport was thrown into chaos. In the capital, Paris Metro services were suspended for most of the day, operating only during morning and evening peaks, while only the three fully automated lines functioned normally. Train services outside Paris were severely disrupted, particularly regional lines, although most high-speed TGV connections continued to run. Traffic was also slowed on a major highway near Toulon in the south-east as protesters staged blockades.
Airlines were spared the worst of the upheaval, as air-traffic controllers delayed their planned strike until early October, though they warned of a three-day walkout on the horizon. The Transport Minister, Philippe Tabarot, tried to calm public frustration, saying, “We can say that the transport situation is disrupted, but it is not at a standstill.”
Pharmacies across France were almost entirely shut, with the USPO pharmacists’ union reporting that 98 percent of its members closed their doors in protest against proposed changes to their sector. Farmers also joined the mobilisation, with the Confédération Paysanne calling on its members to resist what it described as a reckless budgetary plan. Even French nuclear production was scaled back slightly, with EDF reducing power generation by 1.1 gigawatts at the Flamanville 1 reactor.
The government deployed extraordinary levels of security to control the unrest. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau announced that 80,000 police officers and gendarmes were mobilised nationwide, supported by riot control units, drones, armoured vehicles and water cannon. He confirmed that more than 20 people had been detained at protest sites and warned that up to 8,000 agitators were preparing to provoke confrontations with security forces. Paris Police Chief Laurent Nunez expressed deep concern about possible violence during the union march in the capital and advised shopkeepers to shut their businesses and protect their premises.
The scale of the protests also disrupted cultural programmes. The highly anticipated relocation of the Bayeux Tapestry, the historic 70-metre masterpiece depicting the Norman conquest of 1066, was postponed due to the unrest, according to the local prefecture.
Officials estimated turnout at between 600,000 and 900,000 demonstrators nationwide. The demonstrations were notably larger and more coordinated than a smaller round of protests earlier in September, when activists had declared their intention to “block everything” but fell short of achieving that aim.
