Between 600,000 and 1.5 million demonstrators, according to figures from the Government and the unions, have taken the streets in France’s main cities this Thursday as part of the general strike, which for the moment puts the cap on several weeks of protests and unrest that have driven social tension in the country to levels unprecedented in the decade so far.
The coincidence of student marches demanding changes to secondary education with the return to the streets of the ‘yellow vests’ movement, which denounces the rising cost of living and calls for the resignation of President Emmanuel Macron, has resulted in a dynamic of protests and violent incidents that culminated in a national strike this Thursday, driven by union headquarters in defense of purchasing power.
At dusk, the Place de la Nation remains packed with people gathered there while the Police keep the entrances to the statues of the central fountain cordoned off, and the first interventions by riot-control units have already been recorded.
On Wednesday night, the Minister of the Interior, Laurent Nuñez, announced the deployment of 70,000 police officers and gendarmes for today’s day and guaranteed an “extremely firm” response to any possible “disorder.”
Along the same lines, he has emphasized the importance of reacting in a “firm” manner to any outbreak of violence and has specified in an official note that the setup includes specialized units, as well as drones, helicopters, mounted brigades, canine teams, 26 Centaure armored vehicles of the Gendarmerie, and around fifteen amphibious vehicles.
According to the assessment published by the Ministry of the Interior at 18:00, 430 incidents have been counted, compared with 227 on October 31 and 289 on October 24, with 448 people detained, 53 security forces agents injured, and 86 actions related to fires.
In this scenario, the French prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, has advanced the calling of a “social conference” with unions and employers for this coming Monday at Matignon, with the aim of “providing a response to issues of purchasing power and wages,” while Lecornu has asked the Minister of Labor, Jean-Pierre Farandou.
As for other cities in the country, in Toulouse 19 arrests have been recorded, 14 of them still in police custody, following various clashes that have caused at least three Police officers to be injured, according to police data cited by 'Le Figaro'.