A week after the Block Everything day on September 10th in France, a million took part in strikes and demonstrations against the neo-liberal policies of the Macron regime.
This follows the fall of the government led byFrançois Bayrou, who was forced to resign after a vote of no confidence. Macron then appointed former Defence Minister Sébastien Lecornu as the new prime minister. These minority governments, weakened by the 2024 elections, have had to make various agreements and fixes with opposition parties , in order to stay in power.
On September 17th, a day before the strikes and demonstrations, Lecornu met with the leadership of the Socialist Party, themselves not adverse to implementing neo-liberal policies. A dirty deal to keep Lecornu and Macron may be cobbled together. As for the far-right Renouveau National (RN), led by Marine Le Pen, they have stated that they “understand” the discontent, whilst of course taking no part in it, hoping to hypocritically garner votes in forthcoming elections.
The following day, after calls from the main unions–CGT, CFDT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, UNSA, FSU, and Solidaires- a million joined in actions. The Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, as he had done the previous week, brought out 80,000 cops and gendarmes, and again deployed armoured vehicles and water cannon.
Tear gas grenades were fired at demonstrators in Paris, Nantes and Marseille, and a blockade of traffic in Toulouse was broken up. The police also attacked demonstrators in Lyon and Rennes. In Paris, the cops attacked several demonstrations during the course of the day.
In Paris and the surrounding Île-de-France, bus drivers and tube workers came out on strike. As a result, only automated lines operated, whilst other lines were seriously affected. Strikes at power plants fell by around 4,000 MW, the equivalent of the output of four nuclear reactors. Many primary school teachers came out on strike, with as many as 45% in Paris. Blockades of schools and universities again took place as they had on September 10th. A hundred rail workers managed to gain access to the Ministry of Economy and set off flares.
Many health workers also walked out. Pharmacists also took action, with 18,000 of 20,000 pharmacies in France closed down. At Le Mans, pharmacists took this further , with a sit-in strike. Workers in tax offices and in public utilities also went out, with 12% of civil servants out, twice that of September 10th.
Once again, Gilets Jaunes (Yellow Vests) were to be seen, as at Besançon. There were 700 blockades of roundabouts and roads and motorways. 120,000 demonstrated in Marseille, 55,000 in Paris, 40,000 in Toulouse, 10,000 in Nantes, and large demonstrations in Besançon, Clermont-Ferrand, Tours and hundreds of other towns, over 260 demonstrations in total.
The police made a total of 309 arrests.
This day of action was in response to cuts to public services, reforms to unemployment insurance, freezes on civil servant and contract worker salaries, reductions in social benefits, pension deindexation, potential cuts to paid leave, and cuts in education, research, subsidised university meals, which helps poorer students. In addition, as in Italy, there is widespread disgust at increased military spending, and at the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, with big corporations receiving tax benefits worth €270 billion.