Rioting flared across France on Wednesday as a loose "Block Everything" campaign aimed at forcing President Emmanuel Macron to resign prompted confrontations with police and more than 350 arrests nationwide.
Authorities said roughly 80,000 police and gendarmes were deployed to respond to blockades, go‑slow operations and clashes in cities from Paris to Lyon, Montpellier and Rennes. Demonstrators shut sections of the Paris ring road, erected barricades outside schools and bus stations, and attempted to disrupt rail and motorway traffic in several regions.
Officers used tear gas and water cannon during violent exchanges at multiple sites. Police in Lyon deployed tear gas against about 100 protesters trying to halt rail traffic at Perrache station, while the A10 motorway was reportedly blocked near Poitiers and barricades were erected outside Paul Sabatier University in Montpellier. In Paris, demonstrators fought running battles with riot police near Les Halles, where at least one building caught fire during the unrest.
Organisers of the campaign have relied heavily on social media and have not established a centralised leadership, a structure that has been compared to the earlier Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vest) protests. The Confederation of General Workers (CGT), France's largest trade union, expressed support for the action, and other unions urged members to join strikes. Sud‑Raid, a transport workers' union, posted on X that "the fall of the government is good, but it's insufficient" and encouraged further stoppages.
The violence came fewer than 24 hours after Macron appointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister — the seventh prime minister under Macron in less than nine years. His predecessor, François Bayrou, was forced out after losing a self‑imposed confidence vote in the National Assembly. Bayrou had advocated deep spending cuts, described in some reports as the equivalent of about £35 billion, proposals that included reducing public holidays, freezing pensions and welfare payments, and shedding thousands of civil‑service jobs.
Lecornu has pledged to assemble a parliamentary majority to enact the Macron‑endorsed austerity budget, a course that has intensified public anger and helped fuel the protest campaign. "Everyone is sick of Macron, and his government," said Nicolas, a 19‑year‑old student taking part in demonstrations in Paris. "The new prime minister will be as useless as the last one," he added.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, an official in the outgoing government, described the unrest as having been "hijacked by the ultra‑Left" and warned of an "insurrectional mood" in parts of the country. Authorities reported that some online messages associated with the movement encouraged theft from supermarkets and disruptive tactics such as blockading fuel depots.
Police made hundreds of arrests as they cleared blockades at roundabouts, bus stations and transport hubs. Security forces employed conventional crowd‑control measures including baton lines, tear gas and water cannon to break up demonstrators and reopen key roads and rail links. Local officials said deployments were intended to protect critical infrastructure and ensure public safety while allowing lawful protest.
Analysts and public stakeholders noted echoes of the Yellow Vest movement, which was similarly leaderless and relied on social media to mobilise supporters. The Gilets Jaunes carried out repeated weekend demonstrations that inflicted extensive property damage, estimated at roughly £250 million, and in some cases forced policy reversals on issues such as fuel taxes. That movement lost momentum around the time of the COVID‑19 pandemic.
Organisers of the current campaign have called for further actions and stoppages, with a sustained day of industrial action and protests expected on Sept. 18 that could involve air traffic controllers and other public‑sector workers. Authorities said they were preparing for additional disruptions.
The unrest underscores widening political tensions as Macron seeks to implement cost‑cutting measures against a backdrop of national debt that, by some measures cited by critics, exceeds 100 percent of gross domestic product. The coming days are likely to test the durability of Lecornu's bid to build a legislative majority and the government's ability to manage continuing street demonstrations without escalating violence.