France hit by protests and strikes over Macron’s public service cuts
Protesters have hit France with transport strikes, demonstrations and traffic blockades, pitting the power of the streets against President Emmanuel Macron’s government and its proposals to cut funding for public services.
The first whiffs of police tear gas came before daybreak on Thursday, with scuffles between riot officers and protesters in Paris.
Planned nationwide demonstrations, from France’s biggest cities to small towns, were expected to mobilise hundreds of thousands of marchers and voice anger about mounting poverty, sharpening inequality and growing struggles for low-paid workers and others to make ends meet.
“We say ‘no’ to the government. We’ve had enough. There’s no more money, a high cost of living,” striking transport worker Nadia Belhoum said at a before-dawn protest targeting a Paris bus depot.
She described “people agonising, being squeezed like a lemon even if there’s no more juice”.
– Unions targeting budget cuts
Labour unions that called strikes are pushing for the abandonment of proposed budget cuts, social welfare freezes and other belt-tightening that opponents contend will further hit the pockets of low-paid and middle-class workers and which triggered the collapse of successive governments that sought to push through savings.
Opponents of Mr Macron’s business-friendly leadership complain that taxpayer-funded public services — free schools and public hospitals, subsidised health care, unemployment benefits and other safety nets that are cherished in France — are being eroded.
Left-wing parties and their supporters want the wealthy and businesses to pay more, rather than see spending cuts to plug holes in France’s finances and to rein in its debts.
“Public service is falling apart,” said teacher Claudia Nunez. “It’s always the same people who pay.”
– New PM’s baptism of fire
The planned day of upheaval — with strikes also impacting schools, industry and other sectors of the EU’s second-largest economy — aimed to turn up the heat on new Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu.
Mr Macron appointed him last week, tasking Mr Lecornu with building parliamentary support for proposed belt-tightening that brought down his immediate predecessors.
“Bringing in Lecornu doesn’t change anything — he’s just another man in a suit who will follow Macron’s line,” said 22-year-old student Juliette Martin.
“We want our voices heard. People my age feel like no one in politics is speaking for us,” she said. “It’s always our generation that ends up with the insecurity and the debt.”
Unions have decried budget proposals by Mr Macron’s minority governments, weakened by their lack of a dependable majority in parliament, as brutal and punitive for workers, retirees and others who are vulnerable.
Mr Macron’s opponents also continue to denounce unpopular pension reforms that he railroaded through parliament and which raised the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, triggering a firestorm of anger and rounds of protest earlier in what is his second and last term as president, which ends in 2027.
– Massive police operation
The government said it was deploying police in exceptionally large numbers — about 80,000 in all — to keep order.
Police were ordered to break up traffic blockades and other efforts to prevent people who were not protesting from going about their business.
In Paris, police said officers used tear gas when dispersing a before-dawn blockade of a bus depot by about 150 protesters.
French broadcasters also reported sporadic clashes in the cites of Nantes, in the west, and Lyon in the south-east, with volleys of police tear gas and projectiles targeting officers.
The Interior Ministry reported 94 arrests nationwide by midday.
“Every time there’s a protest, it feels like daily life is held hostage,” said office worker Nathalie Laurent, grappling with disruptions on the Paris Metro during her morning commute.
“You can feel the frustration in the air. People are tired,” she said. “It’s not very democratic when ordinary people can’t even do their jobs.
“And Lecornu — he’s only just started, but if this is his idea of stability, then he has a long way to go.
“We don’t need big speeches, we need to feel that someone in government understands what this chaos means for us.”
Striking rail workers waving flares made a brief foray into the Paris headquarters of the Economics Ministry, leaving trails of smoke in the air before leaving.
French national rail company SNCF said “a few disruptions” were expected on high-speed trains to France and Europe, but most will run.
Regional rail lines, as well as the Paris Metro and commuter trains, will be more severely impacted.
In airports, only few disruptions are anticipated as the main air traffic controllers union decided to postponed its call for a strike pending the appointment of a new cabinet.
Last week, a day of anti-government action across France saw streets choked with smoke, barricades in flames and volleys of tear gas as protesters denounced budget cuts and political turmoil.
Although falling short of its self-declared intention of total disruption, the “Block Everything” campaign still managed to paralyse parts of daily life and ignite hundreds of hot spots across the country.
