France bracing for 220 protests nationwide on Thursday, interior minister says
Students, trade unions and the Yellow Vests are joining forces.
LONDON and PARIS -- French authorities were bracing for a day of nationwide protests on Thursday, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, as demonstrators from several large protest groups joined forces to march against rising living costs and public spending cuts.
Thursday's action comes after weeks of nationwide demonstrations, which have seen incidents of violence, vandalism and looting -- particularly on Oct. 17 when the French government admitted that police "lost control." Authorities then introduced localized curfews in multiple cities in a bid to curb the unrest.
The demonstrations initially erupted in September as a student-led movement demanding reforms to the education system. That subsequently evolved into a broader movement demanding action to address rising costs of living and years of public spending cuts by governments under President Emmanuel Macron.
French authorities are expecting more than 220 protests across France on Thursday, Nunez told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday. Some 70,000 police will be deployed nationwide, he added.
More than 700,000 people are expected to take part in the marches outside Paris, with more at events inside the capital. Those attending will include demonstrators from the student protest movement, French trade unions and the "Gilets Jaunes" -- or Yellow Vests -- who drove nationwide anti-government protests from 2018 to 2020.
In Paris, demonstrators plan a large march starting in the Place de la Republique at 2 p.m. local time and proceeding to the Place de le Nation in the east of the city. Authorities denied permission for protesters to march their original planned route from the Place de la Bastille and Place de la Concorde across the center of the city.
The head of France's second-largest union, the CGT, urged unions and workers to "generalize the strike."
"We want two things: wage increases everywhere ... and a revision of the government's draft budget which, as it stands, is catastrophic for the country," CGT General Secretary Sophie Binet told French television on Monday.
French rail services, schools and other public institutions are expected to be impacted by the nationwide action, officials said.
Following the dramatic and violent scenes of October's marches, the French government attempted to ease the concerns among students that sparked the current protest movement.
Education Minister Edouard Geffray said the government would cancel 836 planned job cuts in public secondary education and create 500 additional high school teaching jobs.
From the 2027 school year, Geffray said that the size of second-year high school classes will be capped at 28 students in the 50% of high schools in France's least advantaged communities. The cap will be extended to all other schools from the 2028 school year, he said.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, meanwhile, earmarked around $4.4 billion in funding for local authorities to help finance school renovations.
Macron acknowledged the grievances of the protesters while condemning the violence. On Oct. 17, some demonstrators targeted businesses and government buildings while protesters accused the police of using excessively violent tactics.
During a visit to France's second-largest city Marseille in the south of the country -- which experienced a significant outbreak of looting -- in late October, the president promised action.
"The high cost of living, the concerns of our high school and college students about their future: these are legitimate preoccupations that call for concrete responses," he wrote in a post to X. "But no anger can justify violence, looting, or attacks on our institutions. Demonstrating is a right. Destroying never will be."
The protests come around six months before French voters elect a new president. Macron will end a decade in office when he leaves the Elysee Palace in May 2027. Among those vying to replace him are Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally party, and Jen-Luc Melenchon, the leader of the leftist France Unbowed party.
"Six months before the presidential election, our country needs a democratic debate, not a spiral of violence. Disagreements must be able to be expressed, proposals confronted, and the French people freely choose their future," Macron wrote on X in October.
Melenchon has taken part in the marches in Paris and called for the voting age to be lowered to 16. The left-wing leader faced criticism from his opponents for his backing of the movement after the violence of Oct. 17.
Le Pen, meanwhile, has sought to harness unease over the demonstrations. In her first campaign speech in the city of Orleans in October, Le Pen told supporters she would "restore the rule of law" if she won the coming contest.
Related Topics
Popular Reads
ABC News Live