Overview

• Authorities reported more than 200 arrests during early hours as police used tear gas to clear blockades and burning barricades in multiple cities.
• Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said 80,000 police and gendarmes were mobilized nationwide, including about 6,000 in Paris, to prevent attempts to shut down transport and key sites.
• Highways and urban routes faced widespread disruption, with operator Vinci citing blockages around Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes and Lyon, while a bus burned in Rennes and a damaged power line disrupted trains near Toulouse.
• The decentralized ‘Block Everything’ campaign, which began in far-right online circles, has been taken up by left-wing groups, anarchists and major unions, with organizers counting hundreds of coordinated actions.
• The unrest follows Prime Minister François Bayrou’s ouster in a no-confidence vote over austerity plans and President Emmanuel Macron’s appointment of Sébastien Lecornu, as opposition parties signal further parliamentary challenges and unions flag additional strike actions.