Nearly a million rioters descended on to the streets of Paris in a ‘day of rage’ with anti-Macron fury gripping France once again.
As the country endured outbursts of carnage and violence, images from the streets of the capital on Thursday morning showed major clashes breaking out between cops and rioters.
Protesters set fire to wooden pallets outside the city’s main train station, the Gare du Nord, while officers battled 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’s budget cut plans.
The strikes, the latest humiliation for President Emmanuel Macron, come barely a week after Sébastien Lecornu was appointed prime minister following the toppling of Francois Bayrou’s government.
Unions have called for more spending on public services, higher taxes on the wealthy and for the budget cuts outlined by the short-lived Bayrou government to be axed.
In Lyon, fiery clashes erupted outside the city’s Gare de Lyon station, with orange blazes turning the usually peaceful area into a chaotic warzone. The Eiffel Tower was also closed due to the intense rioting sweeping the city.
Dramatic footage captured officers donning protective gear running through the streets in a bid to dissolve furious crowds who were lighting flares, climbing on top of public bins, and attempting to go head-to-head with cops.
Striking images showed demonstrators covering their faces as they waded through clouds of tear gas that had been tossed into the swarm of people by anti-riot police.
The Interior Ministry reported 94 arrests as of midday Thursday, including 15 in Paris, 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 were expected to take to the streets nationwide, according to an Interior Ministry estimate.
Across France 20 fires on public roads had been recorded since Wednesday morning, as attempts were made to disrupt key transport links, including the Metro and Paris ring road.
Police feared that around 1000 members of the notorious group aimed to riot in Paris alone, and with more than 250 rallies are planned across the country, authorities believed 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.
Sud-Rail union member and activist Anasse Kazib spoke in front of several hundred people in front of the Gare du Nord station.
‘The police are afraid of an invasion of the Gare du Nord, so they are invading it themselves,’ he declared, referring to the large police presence on site. During his speech, the doors of the station’s main entrance were closed as the crown chanted: ‘Macron, resign!’, in unison.
Pupils also 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 was 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 said they feared violence on the sidelines of union marches, announcing a massive police presence on the streets.
The enormous security force included 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.
It comes after a hundred union members entered the Ministry of Economy and Finance at around 11:15am (local time). Local reports claim they managed to break through security barriers and light a smoke bomb.
‘Bercy, you’re done for, the workers are in the streets,’ the protesters chanted, as per LeParisien. ‘All together, all together, general strike,’ they added.
‘And we will continue until withdrawal,’ they said, alluding to pension reform and budgetary austerity. ‘We are here, we are here, even if Macron doesn’t want it, we are here!’ was also heard.
The strikes saw one-third of teachers walk out, nine in 10 pharmacies closed, and severe disruption across the Paris Metro. Only three driverless lines were expected to run normally.
While most high-speed trains ran, Metro and suburban rail services faced 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 Thursday’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.
