Clashes in France as hundreds of thousands protest against budget cut plans

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of people took to the streets in France today to protest in a show of anger against President Emmanuel Macron’s government and its proposals to cut funding for public services.

Transport strikes, demonstrations and traffic blockades hit several cities across the country in a day of nationwide actions that saw schools closed and sporadic clashes with the police in Paris. 

One trade union, the leftist CGT, said that more than a million people across the country had taken part in the demonstrations.

French authorities, whose count is usually substantially lower than that of unions, said more than 500,000 people had demonstrated in the country, including 55,000 in Paris.

Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, Macron’s seventh head of government since 2017, vowed a break from the past in a bid to defuse a deepening political crisis after taking office last week.

But the appointment of the 39-year-old former defence minister and close Macron ally has failed to calm the anger of unions and many French people.

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.

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.

Many protesters took direct aim at Macron, who has just 18 months left in power and is enduring his worst-ever popularity levels.

“Every day the richest get richer and the poor get poorer,” Bruno Cavalier said in Lyon, France’s third-largest city. He carried a placard reading ‘Smile, you are being taxed.’

‘Thousands of strikes’

Protesters remain incensed about the draft budget of Lecornu’s predecessor Francois Bayrou, who had proposed a series of measures he said would save €44 billion.

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Lecornu has tried to calm anger by promising to abolish life-long privileges for former prime ministers and halt a widely detested plan to scrap two public holidays.

More than 80,000 police officers have been deployed, backed by drones, armoured vehicles and water cannon.

More than 180 people have been detained so far. 

With unions calling for strikes in a rare show of unity, around one in six teachers at primary and secondary schools walked out, while nine out of 10 pharmacies were shuttered.

Commuters faced severe disruption on the Paris Metro, where only the three driverless automated lines were working normally.

Trade unions said they were pleased with the scale of the protests.

“We have recorded 260 demonstrations across France,” said Sophie Binet, leader of the CGT union. “There are thousands and thousands of strikes in all workplaces.”

‘Fed up’

Police in Paris and Marseille used tear gas to disperse early, unauthorised demonstrations. In Marseille, an AFPTV reporter filmed a policeman kicking a protester on the ground, while police said they had been confronted by “hostile” demonstrators.

In Lyon, a France TV journalist and a police officer were injured during clashes between police and a group of masked youths at the head of a rally.

On the outskirts of the northern city of Lille, protesters took part in an early morning action to block bus depots.

“We’re fed up with being taxed like crazy,” said Samuel Gaillard, a 58-year-old garbage truck driver.

Even schoolchildren joined in, with pupils blocking access to the Maurice Ravel secondary school in eastern Paris, brandishing slogans such as “block your school against austerity”.

Officials said they expected today’s action to be the most widely followed day of union-led protests and strikes since a months-long mobilisation in early 2023 against Macron’s widely reviled raising of the retirement age, which the government rammed through parliament without a vote.

With reporting from AFP

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