Overview

• Authorities deployed about 80,000 police and reported more than 180 arrests after sporadic clashes on the margins of largely peaceful marches in Paris, Lyon and Nantes.
• Officials counted more than 450,000 demonstrators outside Paris plus 55,000 in the capital, while the CGT union claimed turnout reached one million.
• Industrial action shuttered roughly nine in ten pharmacies, left about a third of primary school teachers on strike nationwide, and severely disrupted the Paris Metro and regional rail, with most TGV services running.
• State utility EDF said nuclear output was reduced by about 1.1 gigawatts as workers joined the action.
• Unions demanded the reversal of the draft €44 billion savings plan, protection of public services, higher taxes on the wealthy and rollbacks to the 2023 pension reform, as Lecornu signaled further consultations with unions and parties.