Overview

• French trade unions organized protests in about 260 localities to oppose planned spending cuts aimed at reducing the public deficit.
• The walkout was the third general strike since Sébastien Lecornu became prime minister a little over 20 days ago.
• Interior Ministry data indicated participation was lower than on September 18, when police counted 506,000 and unions said more than one million took part.
• Initial official estimates on Thursday afternoon put the nationwide crowd at around 85,000 before later updates raised the figure.
• The caretaker government defends the proposed cuts as necessary to curb France’s high public deficit.