France's unions and the Interior Ministry offered widely divergent turnout figures for the nationwide demonstrations held on Thursday, November 5, according to BFM. The CGT put the total at roughly 1.6 million people across the country, including 350,000 in Paris, while the ministry counted 575,000 nationwide and 65,000 in the capital. Either way, BFM reports it was the largest single-day mobilization in France this autumn.
The day was organized by an inter-union coalition led by the CGT and the CFDT, with a rise in the minimum wage at the center of its demands. The Interior Ministry's figures were published at 20:00 and described as provisional.
Why it matters
The gap between the two counts is a familiar feature of French protest politics, but the scale both numbers describe gives the unions a strong hand as they press the government over pay. CGT general secretary Sophie Binet said the government would not stop the movement, calling for higher wages across the board and a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage. She also described the day as a success and the strike as highly effective, BFM reported.
The mobilization drew a political response the same evening. Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced in a statement that a "social conference" bringing together unions and employers would be held at Matignon on Monday, November 9.
A day of marches, a burned effigy and hundreds of arrests
The Paris procession set off in the afternoon and the head of the march reached Place de la Nation about three hours later, according to BFM's reporters on the ground, with demonstrators still gathered at Place de la République. Manon Aubry, a La France Insoumise member of the European Parliament who joined the Paris march, told BFM she was surprised by the size of the crowd. She said the route had been too small for the number of people and that the power now had to take the movement seriously — either by yielding to social demands or by leaving office.
Marine Tondelier, the Greens' presidential candidate, described the Paris demonstration on BFMTV as a joyful show of unity, saying the whole left was present at République and that she wanted a political outcome from the day.
The Interior Ministry said 448 people were arrested across the country and 53 members of the security forces were injured. In Toulouse, a protester was struck in the jaw by an unidentified projectile, according to a statement from the Haute-Garonne prefect relayed by BFM.
In Strasbourg, demonstrators burned a dummy made up to look like a riot police officer. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez condemned the act and asked the Bas-Rhin prefect to refer the matter to prosecutors under article 40 of the criminal procedure code, his office told BFMTV. The minister's entourage said he was outraged by the incident and noted that security forces had once again allowed the marches to go ahead.
Strike participation and transport
The Education Ministry reported that nearly 16 percent of teachers were on strike on Thursday. In Paris, three primary school teachers — Fabienne, François and Sylvain — told BFMTV they had come to see that the day passed smoothly, citing the cost of living and expressing support for striking lycée and university students.
Transport disruptions were limited. Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said in a social media post that service was broadly maintained at a high level, with nine out of ten high-speed TGV trains running and two out of three regional trains, though he acknowledged differences between regions. Air traffic stayed close to normal at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Paris-Orly, while disruptions were reported at La Réunion and Strasbourg. In the Île-de-France region, BFM reported no disruption to metro, bus or tram services.
Away from the capital, marches filled streets in cities including Douai, Limoges, Lyon and Saint-Malo. In Lyon, 20 Minutes reported that workers gave up a day's pay to strike. In Saint-Malo, Ouest-France reported that close to 1,000 people turned out at the call of a local inter-union group, with one participant describing a general fed-up feeling.
Attention now turns to Monday's social conference at Matignon, where the government will sit down with unions and employers for the first time since the demonstrations.
