By Stephane Mahe and Lucien Libert NANTES/PARIS (Reuters) – Protesters demonstrated across France on Wednesday, disrupting traffic, burning rubbish bins and at times clashing with police in a bid to “Block Everything” in anger at the political class and planned budget cuts. Security forces deployed across the country to try to remove any blockades as […]
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Protesters in France bid to ‘Block Everything’, scores arrested
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By Stephane Mahe and Lucien Libert
NANTES/PARIS (Reuters) – Protesters demonstrated across France on Wednesday, disrupting traffic, burning rubbish bins and at times clashing with police in a bid to “Block Everything” in anger at the political class and planned budget cuts.
Security forces deployed across the country to try to remove any blockades as fast as possible, officials said, meaning that France was, for now, not blocked. Nearly 200 protesters were arrested across the country, and there were some scuffles.
Many demonstrators vented their anger against President Emmanuel Macron, who is already facing political turmoil after the parliamentary opposition united to defeat his government on Monday.
“It’s the same shit, it’s the same, it’s Macron who’s the problem, not the ministers,” Fred, a representative for the RATP public transport branch of the CGT union said at a protest in Paris.
“The ministers, it’s a problem, but it’s more Macron and his way of working, which means he has to go.”
In Paris, police fired tear gas on youth protesters blocking the entrance to a high school and firefighters removed burnt objects from a barricade.
Police said they had stopped a large group of about 1,000 protesters from entering the Gare du Nord train station in the city.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau told reporters that protesters had torched a bus in the western city of Rennes. He also said some protesters had attacked police with heavy cobblestones, but did not specify where.
Retailleau warned that protest rallies scheduled for later in the day could be infiltrated by hard-line, ultra-left groups and become violent.
The “Block Everything” movement – a broad expression of discontent with no centralised leadership and an ad hoc organisation by social media – sprung up online in May among right-wing groups, researchers and officials said, but has since been taken over by the left and far-left.
POPULAR DISCONTENT
Parliament ousted Prime Minister Francois Bayrou in a confidence vote over his plans to tame the country’s ballooning debt. Macron appointed his fifth prime minister in less than two years on Tuesday, picking a close ally, Sebastien Lecornu, which outraged left-wing politicians.
A teacher taking part in the protests in Paris said he was against the ousted government’s planned budget cuts.
“Bayrou was ousted, (now) his policies must be eliminated,” said teacher Christophe Lalande, calling for more funding for schools and hospitals.
At another protest in the city, unionist Amar Lagha said: “This day is a message to all the workers of this country: that there is no resignation, the fight continues, and a message to this government that we won’t back down, and if we have to die, we’ll die standing.”
In the western city of Nantes, protesters blocked a highway with burning tires and bins. Police used teargas to disperse people trying to occupy a roundabout.
In Montpellier, in the southwest, police scuffled with protesters who had set up a barricade to block traffic at a roundabout. Police used teargas to disperse the protesters, some of whom threw various objects at them. Some protesters carried a banner that read: “Macron resign”.
Highway operator Vinci reported traffic disruptions on highways throughout the country, including Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes and Lyon.
The “Block Everything” movement reflects popular discontent with what protesters deem a dysfunctional ruling elite preaching a painful gospel of austerity. It is drawing comparisons to the 2018 “Yellow Vest” protests, which arose over fuel price hikes but morphed into a broader movement against Macron and his plans for economic reform.
About 50 hooded people tried to start a blockade in Bordeaux, while in Toulouse, in the southwest, a fire was quickly extinguished but still disrupted train traffic, the interior minister, Retailleau, told reporters.
He said 80,000 security forces had been deployed throughout the country, including 6,000 in Paris. French media had reported that 100,000 people were expected to take part in the demonstrations.
(Reporting by Lucien Libert, Makini Brice, Juliette Jabkhiro, Benoit Van Overstraeten and Abdul Saboor in Paris, Stephane Mahe in Nantes, Manon Cruz in Montpellier; Writing by Ingrid Melander and Makini Brice; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Frances Kerry)