France was plunged into widespread street unrest on Wednesday as a social-media driven campaign called "Bloquons tout" ("Block Everything") staged nationwide strikes and demonstrations aimed at disrupting transport and other services.
Authorities reported dozens of arrests and multiple scenes of vandalism and arson as protesters wearing hoods and masks erected flaming barricades and sought to block roads and key infrastructure, including attempts to disrupt the Eurostar hub at Paris's Gare du Nord.
Paris police said 75 people had been arrested during the demonstrations, while an interior ministry spokesman earlier said there were up to 50 arrests in the capital by 8 a.m. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said about 50 hooded individuals had tried to start a blockade in Bordeaux and reported a cable fire in the Toulouse region that briefly disrupted traffic between Toulouse and Auch. Retailleau said 80,000 police and gendarmes had been deployed nationwide for the two-day stoppage, including 6,000 in Paris.
The protests took place in several major cities, with authorities and media reporting disturbances and traffic disruptions in Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes, Lyon, Rennes and Caen. Vinci, a highway operator, reported interruptions on highways across the country. In Nantes and Rennes, police cleared burning bins and other objects placed by demonstrators. In Montpellier, officers used tear gas to disperse people who had gathered to block a roundabout.
The movement, which has no centralised leadership, was supported by some unions including the CGT, France's largest trade union, and received calls to strike from Sud-Raid. Organisers and online messaging urged a range of disruptive actions such as blockades of fuel depots, slow-moving operations on roads and mass demonstrations in city centers. Some posts circulating online encouraged people to enter supermarkets, fill bags and leave without paying, a tactic that authorities warned could lead to arrests.
French media reports had suggested as many as 100,000 people were expected to take part. The actions drew comparisons in tone and method to the 2018 Yellow Vest (Gilets Jaunes) movement, which began as protests over fuel taxes and later evolved into a broader anti-government campaign that included repeated street clashes and significant economic damage.
The unrest came less than 24 hours after President Emmanuel Macron appointed Sébastien Lecornu as prime minister — his seventh in less than nine years — following the resignation of François Bayrou. Bayrou stepped down after losing a confidence vote in parliament on Monday night; he had proposed cuts described by his team as equivalent to about £35 billion, including measures that would have reduced public holidays, frozen some pensions and welfare payments and reduced public sector employment as part of a broader austerity push to address a national debt level cited at about 114% of GDP.
Lecornu has said he will seek to build a majority in the National Assembly to advance the Macron-approved austerity budget, a stance that has inflamed critics and helped fuel the demonstrations. The president's office said Macron wants his new prime minister to hold talks with parliamentary opponents to seek compromises on the budget and other policies before nominating a replacement cabinet; the government is currently operating under Macron and Lecornu following the dissolution of the previous cabinet.
Officials warned of continued disruption, with further strikes and stoppages called for Sept. 18, when air traffic controllers and other groups are expected to join action. The coordinated timing of the French stoppage with a London Underground strike also posed potential travel headaches for cross-Channel travellers, including those planning to use Eurostar services.
As the day progressed, police said more people were expected to gather, and authorities kept large numbers of security forces in place to limit further violence and protect transport links. Political leaders and union figures have called for talks, but organisers of "Bloquons tout" have emphasised decentralised, social-media led coordination rather than a single negotiating body.
Reporting on the demonstrations is ongoing as authorities work to restore order and assess the scale of damage and disruption caused by the nationwide blockades and strikes.