France today is gripped by nationwide protests against President Emmanuel Macron and his government.
Protests started after the appointment of Macron loyalist Sébastien Lecornu as Prime Minister yesterday. Authorities confirmed that more than 200 people were arrested during the first hours of unrest, as thousands poured onto the streets under the banner of the “Block Everything” movement.
The Macron government had deployed an exceptional 80,000 police officers across the country in an attempt to prevent large-scale disorder. Despite this, protesters erected barricades, lit fires and staged demonstrations across multiple regions.
As per the media reports, demonstrators clashed with police, blocked roads and set fires in Paris and other cities. Interior minister Bruno Retailleau said that a bus was set ablaze in Rennes, the capital city of Brittany administrative region. He also said train services in the southwest were halted after damage to a power line.
At the heart of the protests is anger over proposed austerity measures designed to cut France’s 43 billion-euro deficit. Former Prime Minister François Bayrou, who resigned on Monday after losing parliamentary confidence vote on Monday, had announced measures like cutting public holidays and freezing pensions, resigned shortly after the defeat.
Yesterday, Macron appointed Sébastien Lecornu, his loyal defence minister, as the new prime minister who is the fourth in just 12 months.
Protest organisers argued that Bayrou’s resignation did not change their grievances. As per the media reports, the rapid changes at the top underscored widespread discontent. Opposition parties accused the president of ignoring voter frustration by choosing another loyalist.
France is seeing a day of protests led by a grassroots movement named Bloquons Tout (“Let’s Block Everything”) in a show of anger against the political class and proposed budget cuts.
The demonstrations are taking place on the same day new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu was sworn in following the toppling of his predecessor, François Bayrou, in a no-confidence vote earlier this week.
Demonstrators blocked streets, set bins on fire, and disrupted access to infrastructure and schools across the country.
Around 250 people had been arrested by mid-morning, outgoing Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said.
A bus was torched in Rennes and electric cables near Toulouse were sabotaged, he added. Several thousand people gathered in Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Montpellier.
However, the disruption has remained fairly small-scale. Most of the arrests were made in or around Paris, where about 1,000 protesters – many masked or wearing balaclavas – clashed with police outside Gare du Nord train station.
Some tried to enter the station but were thwarted by agents who fired tear gas, French media report.
Many protesters chanted political slogans against President Emmanuel Macron and Lecornu. Several carried placards against the war in Gaza.
The nebulous movement Let’s Block Everything appears to have been born on social media some months ago and gained momentum over the summer, when it encouraged people to protest against Bayrou’s €44bn (£38bn) budget cuts.
The movement has a distinct left-wing character. Its demands include more investment in public services, taxation for high income brackets, rent freezes and Macron’s resignation.
In the lead-up to Wednesday’s protests, Let’s Block Everything urged people to take part in acts of civil disobedience against “austerity, contempt and humiliation”.
A group of young protesters outside Gare du Nord told the BBC they were taking to the streets in “solidarity” with people in precarious situations across France.
“We are here because we are very tired of how Macron has been handling the situation” of France’s spiralling debt, said Alex, 25, adding he had no faith in the new prime minister not to “repeat the cycle”.
