French police have arrested hundreds of people as protests led by left-wing forces under the banner “Block Everything” spread across the country.
Nearly 300 people were detained on Wednesday after demonstrators set fire to rubbish bins and blocked highways, fuelled by growing anger at President Emmanuel Macron’s government amid a deepening political crisis.
Authorities said 80,000 police officers were deployed nationwide, though French media reported closer to 100,000. Officers fired tear gas in several cities as they moved to disperse crowds and make arrests.
The demonstrations – organised under the grassroots slogan “Bloquons Tout” or “Block Everything” – combined work stoppages, road blockades and acts of civil disobedience in opposition to what protesters denounced as years of austerity.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said a bus had been set ablaze in Rennes, while damage to a power line disrupted train services in the southwest. Still, the initial wave of protests appeared less intense than previous unrest against Macron.
The call to “block everything” came after former Prime Minister Francois Bayrou lost a confidence vote on Monday. Macron responded by appointing Defence Minister Sebastien Lecornu, a close ally, as his replacement.
Lecornu is the fifth prime minister to be appointed in less than two years, and the fourth in just 12 months.
Transport disrupted by fires and blockades
Protests erupted across France, with highway operator Vinci reporting traffic disruptions on major roads around Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes and Lyon.
In Lyon, a demonstrator named Florent told the AFP news agency that Macron’s decision to appoint a close ally as prime minister “is a slap in the face”.
“We are tired of his successive governments; we need change,” he said.
“It’s the same, it’s Macron who’s the problem, not the ministers,” a representative of the CGT union’s RATP transport branch at a Paris protest told Reuters. “He has to go.”
In Paris, police fired tear gas at youths blocking the entrance to a high school, while firefighters cleared burned debris from a barricade. Officers also stopped about 1,000 protesters from entering the Gare du Nord train station.
“I was expecting either a dissolution of parliament or a left-wing prime minister, and we have neither. It’s frustrating,” said 18-year-old student Lisa Venier outside the station.
A Paris teacher, Christophe Lalande, said he had opposed the budget cuts that Bayrou pushed through before losing Monday’s confidence vote. “Bayrou was ousted, now his policies must be eliminated,” he said, calling for more resources for schools and hospitals.
Unionist Amar Lagha told a Paris crowd, “This day is a message to all the workers of this country: that there is no resignation, the fight continues.”
In Montpellier, police used tear gas to clear a roundabout blocked by protesters, some of whom threw objects back. A large banner at the rally read: “Macron resign.”
In Bordeaux, about 50 hooded protesters attempted to set up a blockade, while in Toulouse, a fire that disrupted train traffic was quickly extinguished, according to Interior Minister Retailleau.
Calls for Macron to resign spread nationwide
The Block Everything movement, which has gone viral on social media, has been fuelled by increased dismay over budget-tightening policies that Bayrou championed.
Protesters also have broader concerns about poverty and inequality, which have risen sharply in recent years, according to France’s statistics bureau.
The demonstrations are reminiscent of the “Yellow Vest” movement that rocked Macron’s first term as president, when yellow-clad protesters across the nation challenged rising fuel prices and pro-business policies for weeks on end in protests that became increasingly violent.