(Image source from: AFP)
Protesters obstructed roads, ignited fires, and faced waves of police tear gas on Wednesday in Paris and other places in France, trying to pressure President Emmanuel Macron by putting his new prime minister to the test. The interior minister reported nearly 200 arrests within the first hours of the planned countrywide demonstrations. While the protest movement did not fully achieve its goal to “Block Everything,” it caused significant disruptions, showing defiance against an exceptional police presence of 80,000 officers who dismantled barricades and made quick arrests. Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau indicated that a bus was burned in the western city of Rennes and that damage to a power line halted trains in the southwest. He claimed that the protesters were trying to create “a climate of insurrection.”
However, the initial protests seemed to be milder than earlier episodes of unrest that have periodically stirred Macron's leadership. These included months of nationwide yellow vest protests that troubled his first term as president. Following his re-election in 2022, Macron faced intense backlash over unpopular pension changes and national riots in 2023 after a police shooting of a teenager near Paris. Still, groups of demonstrators made repeated attempts to obstruct Paris' ring road during the morning commute on Wednesday. They built barricades, threw items at police, hindered and slowed down traffic, and engaged in other protest activities. This added to the atmosphere of crisis that has once again affected France after the recent government collapse on Monday, when Prime Minister François Bayrou lost a confidence vote in parliament. Macron appointed a new prime minister, Sébastien Lecornu, on Tuesday, and the protests immediately posed a challenge for him.
The “Bloquons Tout,” or “Block Everything,” movement gained traction during the summer through social media and secure messaging platforms, calling for a day of blockades, strikes, demonstrations, and various protest actions. This movement, which has expanded with no obvious leaders, has a wide range of demands—many aimed at controversial budget cuts that Bayrou supported before his fall from power—along with broader issues of inequality. The spontaneity of “Block Everything” reminds one of the yellow vest protests. This earlier movement began with workers occupying traffic circles to protest rising fuel taxes, wearing high-visibility vests. It quickly expanded to include people across different political views, social backgrounds, and ages who were upset about economic inequality and Macron's leadership.
