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Protesters
march in cities across France as unions stage general strike
Hundreds
of thousands demonstrate over cost of living and cuts to public services as
70,000 police officers deployed
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Thu 5 Nov
2026 17.21 GMT
Hundreds
of thousands of people have marched in cities across France in the latest round
of street demonstrations, as trade unions put pressure on the government with a
general strike over the cost of living and cuts to public services.
Striking
teachers, hospital staff and rail workers joined high school and university
students in largely peaceful demonstrations in Paris and other cities on
Thursday amid a high police presence of 70,000 officers.
The
government estimated that at least 600,000 people had taken part, while the
leftwing CGT trade union put the figure at almost 1.6 million.
Riot
police fired teargas at the end of demonstrations in Bordeaux and Lyon. In
Paris, police prevented schoolchildren from setting up barricades with wheelie
bins outside high schools across the city in the early morning.
In the
east of the city, police used teargas to prevent students from accessing the
Hélène Boucher high school.
“This is
a historic protest movement but the government’s only real response has been to
seriously crack down on it with police, so we had to come out on to the street
today,” said Rebecca, 30, a social worker for children with disabilities from
Paris’s southern suburbs. “There are police everywhere, but where is the
funding for other public services?”
Demonstrators
march in Nantes on Thursday. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters
Emmanuel
Macron’s final months in office continue to be marred by domestic crises, as
high school students protesting over
poor learning conditions have been joined by workers in weekly
protests.
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Meanwhile,
the government is struggling to pass a belt-tightening budget in a divided
parliament as public debt approaches 120% of economic output.
France’s
four main rail unions said the government’s proposed budget cuts would “worsen
poverty, slash social security, freeze state workers’ salaries and dry up
investment needed for environmental measures”.
Amid the
renewed protests centred on living costs, public spending cuts and the troubled
education system, the far-right, anti-immigration presidential candidate Marine
Le Pen is polling high for the 2027 election to replace Macron next spring.
Riot
police officers in Lyon on Thursday. Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters
High
school students, who have been protesting for weeks, continued to blockade
schools over overcrowded classes and dilapidated buildings, saying the government’s
proposed measures on capping some class sizes and loaning funds to regional
authorities to fix schools were not enough. The government said 81 high schools
were affected on Thursday, while students’ unions put the number at 1,000.
University
students joined in blockading faculties, with a third of higher education sites
affected, the government said. Trade unions from across the political landscape
joined strikes, with private school teacher unions taking part alongside state
school teachers.
At the
Paris demonstration, a 46-year-old psychiatric nurse from the city’s
south-eastern suburbs said: “We’ve got to protect public services. Hospital
cuts are impacting the work we try to do with psychiatric patients.
“There
are fewer doctors and nurses. People are overworked and fatigued. It’s hard to
make ends meet on salaries that haven’t properly been reviewed for years.”
A Paris
train driver with the CGT union said: “It’s important that we also come out to
demonstrate against the rise of the far right as the presidential election
approaches.”
A person
in a pig costume walks towards a group of protesters in Lyon during a
nationwide day of strikes and protests. Photograph: Denis Balibouse/Reuters
Rights
groups protested over what they said was heavy-handed policing and an attempt
by Macron’s executive to clamp down on the right to demonstrate.
The Ligue
des droits de l’Homme (French human rights league) said this week there had
been an “authoritarian shift” to stifle “any dissenting voice”, as authorities
issued restrictions on demonstrating in city centres as well as curfews in
certain areas.
Sophie
Binet, the head of the CGT union, said: “We’re living at a very serious time,
with a very dangerous authoritarian drift from the government.” She criticised
decisions by authorities in some cities to push demonstrations out of city
centres.
As the
protests were under way, the prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, announced a
meeting to be held next Monday with trade unions and business leaders to
discuss salaries and the cost of living.
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