On Wednesday, September 10, protests erupted across France, with participants setting fire to trash bins, blocking roads, and clashing with police, vowing to "block everything" in anger over the political class and planned budget cuts.
Authorities deployed security forces to quickly clear blockades, and officials said the country had so far avoided complete paralysis. Around 200 people were detained nationwide, with scuffles reported in several areas.
Many demonstrators directed their anger at President Emmanuel Macron, whose government suffered a defeat in parliament on Monday when the opposition united to vote against it. "It’s the same old nonsense, the same story. The problem is Macron, not the ministers," said Fred, a representative of the CGT transport union at a rally in Paris. "The ministers are part of the problem, but the main one is Macron himself and his style of governance—that’s why he must go."
In Paris, police used tear gas against a group of young people who had blocked the entrance to a high school, while firefighters dismantled barricades made of burning debris. According to police, about a thousand protesters tried to storm Gare du Nord station but were stopped.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told reporters that in the western city of Rennes protesters set fire to a bus, and in some locations attacked police with large stones, without specifying where exactly. He also warned that demonstrations planned for later in the day could be exploited by radical far-left groups and escalate into violence.
The "Block Everything" movement emerged online in May among right-wing groups, according to researchers and officials, but over time it came under the control of left-wing and far-left activists and is now coordinated primarily through social media.