France braces for 700,000 protesters as five unions strike
France’s five main unions have called a national day of strikes on Thursday, with the authorities expecting between 500,000 and 700,000 demonstrators and more than 250 separate actions. The interior minister, Laurent Nuñez, has deployed 70,000 police and gendarmes and promised “an extremely firm response” after more than 2,000 shops were looted on 17 October. Rail, hospital, postal and air-traffic staff are expected to join.
The movement began in September as a protest over staff shortages at a single lycée south-east of Paris and has grown into a broad front with the yellow vests, who plan further action on Friday and Saturday. The unions’ joint statement says “anger is immense”; the CFDT’s Marylise Léon is asking for a net rise of €100 a month on a minimum wage of €12.31 an hour, and the CGT’s Sophie Binet accuses the government of “a very dangerous authoritarian drift”. Eighty-one lycées were shut on Thursday morning and about 17.5% of primary schools were affected, the education ministry said. With refinery strikes halting output, the government has released 10 million barrels of diesel from strategic reserves, and France was expected to import more electricity than it produces as nuclear plants were disrupted. The backdrop is public debt approaching 120% of output and a budget the unions say will deepen poverty; Marine Le Pen is polling strongly ahead of 2027. The Paris march runs from République to Nation after a court refused a route to Concorde.