France's protest movement is not standing down. A day after more than 400,000 people marched across the country against rising living costs, unions and protest groups called on Sunday for further demonstrations next Saturday, October 31, and a nationwide strike on November 5 — keeping the pressure on President Emmanuel Macron's government.
"We see an aggregation of anger," Murielle Guilbert, co-leader of the left-wing Solidaires trade union federation, told BFM TV. "We call on people to take to the streets next Saturday." She said grievances from students, workers, firefighters and other groups were converging.
A Saturday of marches — and more than 1,300 arrests
The Interior Ministry said 410,000 people took part in Saturday's marches in 289 demonstrations nationwide, including 110,000 in Paris, where authorities confined the march to the city's southeastern edge. The CGT union, which helped organise some of the protests, estimated nearly 800,000 nationwide and 250,000 in Paris.
Authorities recorded 1,314 arrests nationwide by 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, and 53 members of the security forces were reported injured. Twenty-four businesses were looted and 75 firefighting interventions were recorded — all far below the previous Saturday's toll of 2,628 arrests, 1,144 injured officers, 1,522 businesses affected and 2,025 fire-related interventions.
Around 70,000 police officers and gendarmes were deployed on Saturday, helping to avert a repeat of the looting and vandalism that swept many cities on October 17. The Paris march began peacefully but clashes erupted near its endpoint in eastern Paris, where masked protesters hurled objects and fireworks at police, who answered with tear gas, sound grenades and water cannons.
The Yellow Vests are back on the streets
The Yellow Vests, the grassroots movement that emerged in 2018 as a revolt against fuel taxes, also called for mass rallies next Saturday, including sit-ins outside town halls and the National Assembly.
"There is anger in this country. It's growing in schools and universities, on roundabouts, in neighbourhoods, on farms and in workplaces," activist Azelma Sigaux told reporters.
The SUD Education teaching union said it would join the October 31 demonstration, while the large CGT union said it would decide during the week. Labour leaders said frustration over wages, living costs and public services was spreading far beyond the student movement that first mobilised last month.
Macron has almost no room to respond
The protests — over school funding, soaring living costs, wages and public services — come as Macron's room to manoeuvre shrinks. In 2019, he was able to find the resources to reduce fuel costs in response to the Yellow Vests. Seven years on, strained public finances leave him with little room to meet protesters' demands. His mandate also expires next April, and his centrist party no longer holds the majority needed to pass major legislation.
Saturday's turnout was lower than the 550,000 the ministry said protested the previous weekend — but with unions now calling for a new round of marches and a November 5 strike, the movement is gearing up for a longer fight.
Reporting based on Reuters and The Associated Press.