Mass protests sweep France as huge crowds demand higher wages, back
students' demands
[November 06, 2026]
By SYLVIE CORBET
PARIS (AP) — Protest marches drew huge crowds Thursday in Paris and
elsewhere across France as demonstrators demanded higher wages and
backed the country's student protest movement, piling fresh pressure on
the beleaguered government.
France’s Interior Ministry said more than 600,000 people took to the
streets while the CGT, one of France's major unions, said nearly 1.6
million people took part in over 200 demonstrations nationwide. The
figures exceed those reported on Oct. 17, when protests were marred by
scenes of rioting and looting.
The Paris march proceeded peacefully, with students, workers and
retirees joining. Some young demonstrators were carrying signs reading:
“Inequalities seriously jeopardize our future” and “We can’t spend our
whole lives just trying to make a living.”
The CGT, which estimated 350,000 marched in Paris, said the turnout
marked a new stage in the mobilization and vowed to “continue its fight
for as long as necessary to force the government and employers to give
in to its demands.”
About a third of France’s high schools were closed or unable to operate,
some because of student blockades and others because teachers were on
strike. Public transportation was disrupted in some areas. The Eiffel
Tower was also closed.
Police are prepared but sporadic tensions flare
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said that 70,000 police officers were
deployed, backed by armored vehicles, drones and helicopters. Police
have been criticized for injuring protesters with heavy-handed tactics.
Authorities in the western region of Brittany said Thursday that masked
individuals tried to block roads in Rennes. They said young people,
often accompanied by adults, committed “serious acts of violence,”
including throwing steel balls at police.
Authorities also reported tensions, scuffles and other incidents in the
cities of Lyon, Nantes, Pau, Orléans, Rennes and Toulouse.
The Interior Ministry said police arrested at least 448 people.
Large, recurring protests in recent weeks have been marred by violence,
which authorities blamed on masked far-left radicals seeking to incite
insurrection and others intent on looting.
Unions aim to send a warning
France’s main unions warned that the country is on the brink of
recession and that layoff plans are multiplying. “Fuel, food products,
rent, gas, electricity … everything’s going up except wages and
pensions,” they said in a joint statement.
France is mired in debt and is one of the worst economic performers in
Europe, along with Italy and Belgium.
“We need to give every single child here in this country a proper
future,” said Garance Blaise, a 21-year-old university student taking
part in the Paris march.
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“It's all about the way we don’t know whether we’ll get a job or
not. And our parents, they know that and they agree with us and they
also have things to ask for,” she said. “So I think the movement is
already global, it is already all over Europe, and it’s not just
students. It’s the whole population.”
Corinne Cucchini, from the Private Healthcare Federal Union, joined
the Paris demonstration to denounce “staff shortages and a lack of
equipment” at the private hospital in Paris where she works. “Our
demands focus on raising wages and the working conditions,” she
said.
Fabien Villedieu, national secretary of the SUD-Rail union, took aim
at President Emmanuel Macron 's centrist government and the national
rail company, SNCF.
“When the government is not reasonable, when the head of the SNCF is
not reasonable … we simply do what we’ve always done in France,
which is to go on strike,” he said at the Gare de Lyon station in
Paris.
Before the strike action, the government had been negotiating with
unions — a familiar scenario in French politics — in hopes of
limiting the protest movement, which has resulted in France's most
violent civil unrest in years.
Protests are drawn into election campaigning
The movement began in September with a protest over staff shortages
at a high school southeast of Paris and spread nationwide. It drew
students demanding more education funding and then broadened to
workers seeking better pensions and help with soaring fuel prices
and other costs.
Thursday's demonstrations come as the campaign to succeed Macron as
president next May heats up, with political leaders seeking to
capitalize on the movement. Macron is constitutionally barred from
seeking a third consecutive term. Far-right contender Marine Le Pen
is the favorite to win.
Some candidates participated in the Paris march, including veteran
far-left firebrand Jean-Luc Mélenchon, Green leader Marine Tondelier
and Raphaël Glucksmann, who represents the moderate left.
“There is a sense of absolute frustration at the government’s
failure to operate,” said Paul Smith, an associate professor of
French history and politics at the University of Nottingham in
England. “Whoever wins the presidential election is going to have a
stack of problems to cope with.”
“It’s very difficult to see exactly where things go,” he said.
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Associated Press journalists Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris and Lorne
Cook in Brussels contributed to this report.
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