Overview

• Turnout became a political flashpoint, with authorities reporting over 500,000 participants nationwide and organizers claiming more than one million.
• Strikes disrupted rail services, schools and public facilities, with SNCF cutting Intercity and regional trains and major Paris sites like the Eiffel Tower and some museums closed or limited.
• Authorities mounted an exceptional security operation of roughly 80,000 police and gendarmes with drones and Centaure armored vehicles after warnings about radical infiltrators.
• Clashes broke out late in the Paris march, where banks and street furniture were damaged; the interior ministry counted 309 detentions nationwide and reported multiple injuries.
• After the protests, the prime minister-designate said union demands are central to ongoing consultations, while unions hailed the day as a success and left open further action without setting a date.