More than 600,000 people took part in marches and rallies across France on Thursday in a coordinated day of strikes and protests over wages, the cost of living and public services.1,5
The action, organized by five unions representing public- and private-sector workers, was joined by high school and university students after unions had urged workers, pensioners and young people to join, and centred on demands for higher pay and government action on deteriorating public services and high prices of goods.1,5
The size of the turnout was disputed. France's interior ministry put participation at more than 600,000, rising from 270,000 during the afternoon to 600,000 by the evening, while the CGT union counted 1.57 million and described it as "a level unmatched" since 2023, citing large protests in Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Lille.1,5
The provisional figures were higher than those for Saturday 17 October, until now considered the largest day of rallies, when the interior ministry said 550,000 people had turned out and the unions counted 800,000. Earlier on Thursday, CFDT leader Marylise Léon said she would be happy if the protests matched that earlier level.1
The unions had vowed to take coordinated action against the government "to the next level." CGT chief Sophie Binet said their message was that "the only thing that will bring this mobilisation to a halt is responding to our demands," and told reporters at the start of a march in central Paris that protesters had "just reached a new level in their mobilisation" and were demanding immediate answers.1
In particular, the unions are seeking a rise in the minimum wage, or Smic, which is currently €12.31 an hour. Léon said it was not only the minimum wage that needed to increase: "We are asking for a net increase of €100 a month," Marylise Léon explained. The government said an estimated 9.89% of civil servants took part in the strikes.1
Disruption was reported in schools, hospitals and public transport, and the Eiffel Tower and some exhibition rooms at the Louvre museum in Paris closed. Workers were asked to halt production at oil refineries, and France was expected to import more electricity than it produced on Thursday because of disruption at nuclear plants. The education ministry said 16% of teachers went on strike, while the unions said disruption affected more than one in four lycées, which cater for 15-18 year-olds, as well as the vast majority of universities.1
As darkness fell in Paris, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu said he would convene a "social conference" with unions and employers next Monday. He said the meeting would seek to "provide answers to questions surrounding purchasing power and wages." The government has sought to reduce fuel costs by releasing 10 million barrels of diesel from strategic reserves and has promised students to reform the Parcoursup university admissions platform and eventually replace it by 2028, while saying it has little room to manoeuvre as it looks to make tens of billions of euros in savings to cut the budget deficit to 5% of GDP.1
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez had deployed 70,000 police, vowing "an extremely firm response" to any potential outbreaks of violence. Clashes erupted in several cities, with a car set alight near the Gallieni bridge over the Rhône river in Lyon as black bloc activists clashed with police, clashes in the north-western city of Rennes where the local prefect said a "hostile group of masked individuals" had gathered in front of the main union march, tear gas used to clear a square in Bordeaux, and a teenager hurt in a stabbing involving a student at a high-school blockade in Seine-Saint-Denis north of Paris.1
The unrest was not on the scale seen on 17 October, when more than 2,000 stores were looted and historic buildings set on fire. One of the biggest student protests in October turned violent, with stores vandalized and flames rising from the roof of the town hall of Limoges in central France, and President Emmanuel Macron blamed ultra-left groups for the violence. The current wave began in September over conditions and resources at lycées before spreading to universities, workers and a renewed gilets jaunes movement against high prices.1,5
Vice-president of the Unef student union Alice De Brito said the demands had widened beyond education: "Now it's not only about [investing in] public services in education and higher education, it's about all of the public services in France." Thursday's Paris march was allowed on a central route from Place de la République to Place de la Nation rather than the unions' proposed route from Place de la Bastille to Place de la Concorde near the National Assembly, the Élysée Palace and the prime minister's residence. The gilets jaunes movement has called for further blockades and protests on Friday and Saturday.1
