Unions, students and yellow vests are converging across France on Thursday for a nationwide strike over wages and the cost of living.
The inter-union coalition, high school and university students, and the yellow vests coordination are calling for a convergence of mobilizations. Their demands include wage increases, protection of public services and the right to demonstrate. Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT union, said on Monday: "We want two things: wage increases everywhere and the revision of the government's budget plan for 2027." She called the plan "catastrophic for the country" as it stands.
The unions also demand pension adjustments, an increase in the minimum wage, higher pay for public sector workers, and a tax on wealth. They want the government to review €211 billion in state aid.
Authorities have deployed 70,000 police officers and gendarmes nationwide, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said. He warned that no "débordements" would be tolerated. Officials expect "a bit more than 220" public road actions, mostly declared by the inter-union coalition. In Paris, the police prefecture banned the planned route from Bastille to Concorde and proposed an alternative from République to Nation, which an administrative court validated late Wednesday.
Transport networks face disruption, with SNCF predicting disturbances on most regional lines. TGV high-speed trains and the Paris metro are expected to run relatively normally. Railway workers are among those striking, with SNCF management yet to open talks on pay raises.
The strike follows weeks of protests, including unrest on October 17. Rights groups including the LDH and 10 other organizations filed a legal challenge with the Conseil d'Etat on Tuesday. They warned of an "unprecedented authoritarian turn" in restrictions on the right to protest. The CFDT union's security service warned its stewards that Thursday would be a "high risk" day. A veteran CFDT security officer said, "The climate is becoming unhealthy, the atmosphere is heavy. It wouldn't take much for it to explode."
Anasse Kazib, a presidential candidate supporting the movement, said the protests must organize "from below" to succeed. He handed out flyers at Paris's Gare du Nord on Tuesday. Youth anger has also spread across Europe, with similar mobilizations reported in Germany, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Serbia and Albania.
