Paris
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National anxiety broke out on Wednesday as protesters blocked roads, turned off fires and clashed with police, which grew as anger towards the country’s political class clashed with tear gas responding.
The Home Office said 473 people have been detained and 80,000 police have been deployed nationwide, including 6,000 in Paris. The Ministry of Education said about 100 schools were confused and 27 were completely locked down.
That comes when the country’s new prime minister, Sebastian Recorne, takes office.
Former Defence Minister Lecorne, appointed by President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, will replace François Bailloux. He was banished after losing his trust vote in Congress for his unpopular plan to tame deficits.
Critics say that appointing a Macron loyalist on such a day is equivalent to Lecorne’s baptism of the fire.
The protest, called several months ago, is aimed at Macron and the political class.
Earlier on Wednesday, activists launched small but destructive actions, closing major loop roads in Bordeaux, Rennes, Nantes and Kahn.
In the capital, CNN teams have seen protesters block roads outside Gare Du Nord, one of Paris’s busiest railway stations. Police quickly included the situation as almost 150, mostly young protesters chanted anti-polis slogans in a tranquil atmosphere.
Elsewhere, the group temporarily occupied public buildings.
Adèle Aubert, 27, joined the rally in Paris, informed CNN that she was demonstrating that she would “denounce” the new government.
“But it’s the only way to condemn it, so we’ll continue (protest). We try to petition and no one listens to us,” she told CNN.
Thousands also gathered in Chatelette, central Paris.
“We’re angry, we’re very angry,” Anna, a 29-year-old researcher, told CNN.
“What is the point of voting? I feel like the government isn’t listening to us,” she said, adding that people are tired of successive governments under Macron, which does not include the expression from the left.
Impressed by the number of young people in Wednesday’s protests, she said she believes the protests next week will be even bigger in conjunction with the French union.
Most of the day resembles a cat-mouth match between protesters and police, with flare-ups like Rennes, the capital of Brittany in northwestern France, where buses were plundered and burning.
In Paris, the wealthy first arrondisment restaurant also flares up.
The “All Block” movement, a loose, leaderless coalition born on social media, first emerged online among right-wing groups in May, but was then taken over to the left and right left wings.
A bigger national strike and protest is already planned for September 18th, when all unions are expected to participate.
Elodie, a 34-year-old kindergarten teacher in Paris, has defeated the tools to take part in Wednesday’s protest.
She said she was no longer able to accept politicians.
“I’m on strike for both social and economic reasons,” she told CNN.
“The 2026 budget is unacceptable. It’s a budget for social destruction and a blow to the French state. Bailloux has been kicked out, but once again the poorest people are targeted. That’s why I’m on a strike.”
