Paris: Hundreds of thousands of people marched across France on Thursday as trade unions staged a nationwide strike to demand wage increases, stronger pensions, and protection for public services, mounting immediate pressure on the country’s new Prime Minister, Sébastien Lecornu.
According to the interior ministry, between 600,000 and 900,000 demonstrators joined more than 250 rallies nationwide, from Paris to Marseille, Lyon, Nantes, and Montpellier. The coordinated action severely disrupted public transport as train, bus, and tram drivers walked off the job.
Hospital staff joined the protests, while pharmacies shut their doors in opposition to government pricing policies. Schools were also affected, with one in six primary and secondary teachers striking alongside canteen staff and monitors, while students blockaded several high schools in Paris, Amiens, and Le Havre.
Union leaders stated that the demonstrations reflected a deep-seated frustration with the government’s economic policies. “The anger is huge, and so is the determination,” declared Sophie Binet, head of the CGT union. “My message to Mr Lecornu today is this: it’s the streets that must decide the budget.”
President Emmanuel Macron last week appointed Lecornu as France’s third prime minister in a year, after parliament forced out his predecessors, François Bayrou and Michel Barnier, over bitter disputes on fiscal tightening.
Bayrou’s proposed €44 billion austerity program, which included scrapping two public holidays and freezing most welfare spending, triggered a confidence vote defeat earlier this month. Lecornu has already abandoned the holiday-cut plan and pledged to abolish lifelong privileges for ex-prime ministers, but has yet to unveil his budget blueprint. Many protesters said they were defending the future of France’s social model. Others highlighted growing hardship among workers.
The protests mark an early test for Lecornu, who has only weeks to draft a new budget and form a minority government capable of surviving parliamentary scrutiny. Failure to secure a consensus could trigger another vote of no confidence, plunging France deeper into a political crisis. Macron’s sudden snap election last June left parliament fractured between the left, far right, and centrists, with no absolute majority.
Although Lecornu was a central target of union anger, much of the criticism was directed at Macron, whose approval ratings have plunged to their lowest since he took office in 2017.
While the majority of rallies remained peaceful, police reported 140 arrests nationwide by mid-afternoon. In Nantes, clashes erupted on the fringes of demonstrations, prompting riot police to fire teargas, while in Lyon, three people were reported injured.
