France Protests: Nearly 600,000 March in Biggest Turnout Yet

Photo: Firas Abdullah/EPA via Al Jazeera

Nearly 600,000 people marched across France on Thursday in the biggest turnout yet of a protest movement that has been building for weeks. The nationwide strike shut the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, kept thousands of pupils out of school and brought tear gas to the streets of Paris and Lyon.

The Interior Ministry said 575,000 people took part in protests across the country, while the CGT union, one of the organisers, put the figure at 1.6 million. Either way, it was the largest turnout since the movement began, passing the 550,000 counted on 17 October. At least 448 people were arrested and 53 police officers were hurt, the ministry said.

The strikers want a higher minimum wage, pay rises for all workers, changes to the tax system and better conditions in schools. Unions called the one-day strike, and teachers, rail workers, hospital staff and postal workers walked out. Some energy workers joined them too. PakInsight Hub reported before the strike that the unions had promised a national mobilisation.

"The question is not whether workers will win," Sophie Binet, the leader of the CGT, told the crowd in Paris, "but how much we are going to win." She added: "The government tried to block the demonstrations. The demonstrations are bigger than ever."

For many on the streets, the protest was personal. Jack Eisner, a student at Sciences Po, told Al Jazeera that people are marching because they feel their "future is at stake". In Marseille, Lea, a 31-year-old social worker, told the AFP news agency she was tired of counting every euro. "My basket of 20 items has become too expensive," she said. "We want cheaper groceries, cheaper petrol."

The movement started in September, when students began protesting about poor conditions in public schools. It has since grown into wider anger over living costs and inequality, which flared into the worst rioting France has seen in years on 17 October. The protest comes five months before elections to replace President Emmanuel Macron, with the far right leading in the polls.

The marches were largely peaceful, but clashes broke out in Paris and Lyon, where police fired tear gas. In Lyon, riot police charged a group of protesters after a car was set on fire. A high school near Toulouse was set alight and several schools in the Paris area were damaged. Around 70,000 police officers were on duty across the country.

The strike puts fresh pressure on Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, who meets unions and employer groups on Monday to talk about wages and living costs. The unrest is part of a wider wave across Europe, with young people in Germany, Spain, Greece and Italy staging similar protests in recent weeks, and Europe has already had a tense week as Melania Trump hosted Russian and Ukrainian officials to talk peace. Hoax bomb threats also forced emergency landings and evacuations across Europe this week.

The day in numbers:

• 575,000 protesters, the Interior Ministry count; the CGT union says 1.6 million
• 448 people arrested and 53 police officers hurt
• 70,000 police officers on duty across France
• 16 percent of teachers on strike, and 260 rallies held nationwide

Sources

• Al Jazeera: Hundreds of thousands protest across France over high cost of living
• The Hindu: France workers strike, march for 'dignified wage'
• The Express Tribune: Nearly 600,000 demonstrate across France in biggest turnout of protest movement

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu meets the unions and employers on Monday to talk about wages and living costs, and the unions will be watching closely to see what he offers.

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