A nationwide strike disrupted schools, hospitals and air traffic across France on Tuesday, and nearly a quarter of a million civil servants took to the streets around the country in protest at President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies.
They were expressing anger at wage freezes, the axing of 120,000 jobs in public services over the next five years and a succession of spending cuts and labour reforms that Mr Macron argues will boost the economy.
In Paris, the police said they counted 26,000 demonstrators, while the CGT, the main trade union, counted twice that number in the capital alone and hundreds of thousands across the country.
Protesters target a bank in Paris (Francois Mori/AP)
The Interior ministry said 209,000 took part in protests nationwide.
It was the first time in ten years that all public service unions had called for strike action.
Philippe Martinez, the CGT leader, told reporters in the Paris demonstration that the participation in this strike day was “very significant” and praised the union unity.
Among the protesters marching in Paris was Beatrice Vieval, a 49-year-old nurse, who said her Paris public hospital had seen three recent suicides among staff, and she feared that Mr Macron’s plans “will make the situation worse”.
Protests in Paris (Francois Mori/AP)
Alongside teachers, hospital workers made up many of the protesters. Ms Vieval, who works at the Saint-Louis Hospital in Paris, told The Associated Press she already felt squeezed by increasing cutbacks – “wages are frozen, hospital conditions are deteriorated, staff is depleted by reorganising services”.
Amado Lebaube, a 20-year-old philosophy student in the Sorbonne university, said degraded working conditions were already hurting consumers of public services, and could threaten his ability to stay in school.
He expressed thanks for state-paid teachers, student housing aid and government scholarships, adding: “I can study today because there are public services in this country.”
Flagship carrier Air France said about 25% of domestic flights were cancelled due to a walkout by some traffic controllers. The airline maintained long-haul flights to and from Paris airports.
Demonstrators march to protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies in Paris (Thibault Camus/AP)
The education ministry said in a statement about 17% of teachers across the country were on strike Tuesday.
Some school canteens and nurseries were closed, and several high schools in Paris were closed because students were blocking the entrances in solidarity with the union action.
“They unravel all the social protections supposed to protect the weakest and the workers,” said Sandrine Amoud, a teacher on strike in Paris.
Jean-Claude Mailly, secretary general of the FO union, called on Mr Macron to stop “austerity” policies toward public servants during a protest in Lyon.
While demonstrations were largely peaceful across the country, a small group of protesters skirmished with police at the end of a march to the Place de la Nation in eastern Paris.
The industrial action came after several other street protests in recent weeks against Mr Macron’s proposed changes to labour laws.
Unions fear Mr Macron’s economic policies will weaken France’s hard-won worker protections.
The hard-left CGT union called for new protests and strikes on October 19.
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