Nearly a million rioters are set to descend on to the streets of Paris in a ‘day of rage’ with Anti-Macron fury gripping France once again.
As the country braces itself for mass violence against President Emmanuel Macron’s administration, images from the streets of the capital this morning have already shown major clashes breaking out between cops and rioters.
Protesters have been seen setting fire to wooden pallets outside the city’s main train station, the Gare du Nord, while officers battle crowds of demonstrators in billowing clouds of tear gas smoke.
Masked students carrying banners and placards calling to ‘tax the rich’ also waved red flares in front of armoured police as they blocked the entrance of the Lycee Maurice Ravel high school as part of the nationwide protests against the government.
More than 40 people have already been arrested across France this moring after the ‘Black Thursday’ of strikes and street protests was announced, following last week’s ‘Block Everything’ campaign. Between 600,000 and 900,000 people are now expected to take to the streets nationwide, according to an interior ministry estimate.
There were up to 25 arrests in Paris alone by 10am on Wednesday, as attempts were made to disrupt key transport links, including the Metro and Paris ring road.
Others taken into custody in other major cities, such as Marseille and Toulouse, included anarchist members of the ‘Black Bloc’ movement.
Police fear that around 1000 members of the notorious group aim to riot in Paris alone, and with more than 250 rallies are planned across the country, authorities believe the turnout could reach up to a million.
‘Many of the arrests are preventative – people are turning up ready for trouble, including carrying weapons,’ said a police spokesman in the French capital, who confirmed ‘around 40 arrests nationwide’.
All major French unions have called for action against the government’s budget measures, which include cutting some £40billion in spending.
Major disruptions to transport, schools, hospitals and public services started across the country at dawn.
In Paris, many metro lines were set to be suspended for most of the day except for morning and afternoon rush hour. Pupils gathered to block the entrances to some schools.
‘Block your high school against austerity,’ read a placard raised by a student in front of the Lycee Maurice Ravel high school in the French capital, where the gathering included teachers and workers’ representatives.
‘Workers are currently so despised by this government and by (President Emmanuel) Macron that, in fact, it can’t continue like this,’ bus driver and CGT union representative Fred said at a rally in front of the high school.
‘I am here to defend public services,’ 33-year-old teacher Gaetan Legay said at the same rally, ‘in particular, to demand that public money goes back into public services… rather than to large companies or in tax gifts to the ultra-rich.’.
It is expected to be the most widely followed day of union-led protests and strikes since the months-long mobilisation in early 2023 against Macron’s controversial pension reform, which the government eventually rammed through parliament without a vote.
Officials have said they fear violence on the sidelines of union marches, announcing a massive police presence on the streets.
The enormous security force includes 80,000 police officers and gendarmes nationwide, backed by 24 armoured vehicles.
There were also 10 water cannons in operation, along with surveillance drones.
The outgoing Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau warned of a ‘very, very strong’ mobilisation, describing the day as a ‘hybrid’ event mixing sanctioned demonstrations with potential sabotage from ultra-left groups.
Retailleau also told law enforcement officials that ‘the risks of public disorder are significant due to the presence of small groups of ultra-leftists who will try to infiltrate the official marches’.
‘We will respond with massive resources and clear orders,’ he told BFM-TV.
He said that no damage to public buildings would be tolerated, warning of the risk of sabotage and blockades from Wednesday night to Thursday morning.
The strikes will see one-third of teachers walk out, nine in 10 pharmacies closed, and severe disruption across the Paris Metro. Only three driverless lines are expected to run normally.
While most high-speed trains are likely to run, Metro and suburban rail services face major delays. Air traffic disruption should be limited after controllers postponed a planned strike until October.
Paris Police Chief Laurent Nunez told AFP on Wednesday that he was ‘very concerned’ about the risk that rioters intent on provoking fights and damage would infiltrate the union march in Paris, urging shops in the centre to close for the day and protect their storefronts.
Despite the chaos predicted, more than half of French people support the protests.
According to an Elabe poll conducted for BFMTV, 56 per cent of citizens ‘support’ or have ‘sympathy’ for today’s strike.
However, this approval rate is slightly lower compared to the mobilisations against pension reform in 2023, when support was between 60 per cent and 63 per cent.
The strike is specifically directed against next year’s budget measures proposed by former Prime Minister François Bayrou, whose government was brought down by a confidence vote on September 8.
Newly appointed Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu has scrapped one of the most unpopular proposals – getting rid of two public holidays – but he has not ruled out the rest.
These include an overhaul of unemployment benefits and medical insurance costs, all designed to bring down France’s massive debt, which is currently almost £3trillion – or 114 per cent of GDP.
The Fitch rating agency downgraded France’s credit rating last week, amid concerns over political instability.
Sophie Binet, head of the CGT union, said Mr Macron’s policies amounted to ‘unprecedented brutality’ and unfairly target ‘workers, the unemployed, pensioners and the sick.’
She said the U-turn on scrapping public holidays was ‘a first victory’ and proof that’we are in a position of strength’.
But she she warned that ‘none of the other catastrophic measures from François Bayrou’s horror museum have been taken off the table.’
Prime Minister Lecornu has tried to appease the unions by announing plans to end ‘lifetime benefits for former prime ministers’, which currently cost France around £4million.
The ‘Block Everything’ movement has drawn comparisons with the ‘Yellow Vest’ rebellion that erupted in 2018 to 2019 over taxes and the cost of living and forced Macron to make policy concessions costing billions of euros.
However, sociologist Antoine Bristielle at the Jean Jaures Foundation think tank noted a generational divide between the two.
‘In the ‘Yellow Vest’ movement, we had a rather vulnerable France that was struggling to make ends meet, a lot of workers, a lot of retirees. Whereas here, in terms of age, it’s many young people,’ Bristielle said.
They have ‘a certain vision of the world where there is more social justice, less inequality and a political system that functions differently, better.’
‘Young people are the future, the old generation left us with a shitty world, a shitty government. It is up to us to fight to change that and dance on the ashes of the old world,’ student Alice Morin, 21 said.
