A nationwide day of action
Unions and students took to the streets across France on 5 November in a national day of action over wages, purchasing power and public services. The Interior Ministry counted 575,000 participants in 193 processions, including 65,000 in Paris, while the CGT trade union put the figure at 1.6 million. Interior Minister Laurent Nunez said the crowd grew from 270,000 in the afternoon to 600,000 by the evening. Five main unions representing public and private sectors organised the action, and teachers, hospital staff and rail workers joined the students.
Students, schools and teachers
The movement began in mid-September as a pupil protest over underfunded education, overcrowded classrooms and a shortage of teachers, and has since spread across the country. The government said 81 high schools were affected on 5 November, while students' unions put the number at 1,000. The BBC reported that more than one in four lycées were affected, and the unions estimated that about 16% of teachers went on strike. The government said a third of higher education sites were blockaded by university students. Alice De Brito, vice-president of the Unef student union, explained the broadened aims of the protest to the BBC.
Now it's not only about [investing in] public services in education and higher education, it's about all of the public services in France.
BFM TV reported that a high school near Toulouse had been set on fire, and Stirile ProTV described a fire at a lycée in Tournefeuille in the Toulouse metropolitan area. El Mundo reported that a 15-year-old student was stabbed in La Courneuve.
Policing, arrests and injuries
Police used teargas at the end of demonstrations in Paris, Nantes and Lyon, and in Bordeaux, while about 70,000 officers were deployed nationwide. The Interior Ministry's arrest count stood at 448 in its 5 November tally and was revised to 642 in an update on the morning of 6 November. The ministry said 112 police officers and gendarmes were injured, up from 53 on the evening of 5 November. The ministry blamed incidents in Rennes, Marseille, Nantes, Lyon, Bordeaux and Strasbourg on groups at risk of several hundred radical and ultra-left activists. Stirile ProTV reported that a group of masked people damaged Boulevard Voltaire in Paris, and that the Paris prefecture had banned protests in the city centre, citing violence and looting on 17 October. President Emmanuel Macron blamed far-left groups for the violence and promised more security staff at demonstrations.
Government response and what comes next
Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will hold a "social conference" with unions and employers on Monday, 9 November, to address purchasing power and wages. The government is struggling to pass a belt-tightening budget in a divided parliament, with public debt approaching 120% of economic output, according to the Irish Examiner. El Mundo reported that the mobilisation would continue in the coming days. Marine Le Pen, the far-right, anti-immigration presidential candidate, is polling high for the 2027 election to replace Macron next spring.