Paris (AFP) – Hundreds of thousands of people protested across France on Thursday over President Emmanuel Macron’s planned austerity policies, disrupting much of the country’s public life.
Heeding a call from trade unions, protesters staged a day of actions that saw public transport stalled, schools closed and people taking to the streets for demonstrations marked by sporadic clashes with the police.
One trade union, the leftist CGT, said that more than a million people across the country had taken part in the demonstrations — higher than the 900,000 it says turned out for a June 2023 protest against the lifting of the retirement age to 64 from 62.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said 309 people had been detained during the protests, with an alleged 7,300 “radicalised” protestors joining the demos.
He added that 26 officers had been injured.
Protesters demand Macron resign
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Macron’s seventh head of government since 2017, vowed a break from the past in a bid to defuse a deepening political crisis after taking office last week.
But the appointment of the 39-year-old former defence minister and close Macron ally has failed to calm the anger of unions and many French people.
“I reiterate my commitment to pursue a dialogue with all social partners” Lecornu said in a statement Thursday, adding that he would meet again soon with union leaders.
But many protesters took direct aim at Macron, who has just 18 months left in power and is enduring his worst-ever popularity levels.
Several placards urged him to resign, and demonstrators in the southern city of Nice threw an effigy of Macron into the air.
Sophie Larchet, a 60-year-old civil servant, said she came to protest in Paris because of Macron.
“We’ve had enough, he’s tormenting France,” she told AFP.
‘Thousands of strikes’
Others complained about a growing gap between ordinary people and elites, saying a series of austerity measures proposed by the government would hit the poorest hardest.
“Every day the richest get richer and the poor get poorer,” Bruno Cavalier, 64, said in Lyon, France’s third-largest city.
Protesters remain incensed about the draft budget of Lecornu’s predecessor Francois Bayrou, who had proposed a series of measures he said would save 44 billion euros ($52 billion) to curb France’s high debt.
Lecornu has tried to calm anger by promising to abolish life-long privileges for former prime ministers and halt a widely detested plan to scrap two public holidays.
More than 80,000 police officers were deployed, backed by drones, armoured vehicles and water cannon.
With unions calling for strikes, around one in six teachers at primary and secondary schools walked out, while nine out of 10 pharmacies were shuttered.
Commuters faced severe disruption on the Paris Metro, where only the three driverless automated lines were working normally.
Trade unions said they were pleased with the scale of the protests.
“We have recorded 260 demonstrations across France,” said Sophie Binet, leader of the CGT union. “There are thousands and thousands of strikes in all workplaces.”
‘Fed up’
Police in Paris and Marseille used tear gas to disperse early, unauthorised demonstrations. In Marseille, an AFPTV reporter filmed a policeman kicking a protester on the ground, while police said they had been confronted by “hostile” demonstrators.
On the outskirts of the northern city of Lille, protesters took part in an early morning action to block bus depots.
“We’re fed up with being taxed like crazy,” said Samuel Gaillard, a 58-year-old garbage truck driver.
Even schoolchildren joined in, with pupils blocking access to the Maurice Ravel secondary school in eastern Paris, brandishing slogans such as: “Block your school against austerity.”
