Overview

• Nationwide marches on 2 October drew 195,000 people according to the Interior Ministry, while the CGT claimed about 600,000, both well below the 18 September totals.
• Authorities prepared roughly 250 processions and deployed about 75,000–76,000 police and gendarmes, with officials reporting a largely orderly day.
• Transport ran mostly normally for TGV and the RATP with localized slowdowns on TER, RER and Intercités, and strike rates fell across schools and the wider civil service.
• Unions reiterated demands to scrap the 2026 austerity package, reverse the pension age to 64, drop higher medical co‑payments and civil‑service cuts, and tax high wealth.
• Sébastien Lecornu rejected restoring the ISF or a Zucman tax and floated targeted measures such as improving mothers’ pensions, defiscalizing overtime and relief for low‑paid couples, as unions plan to meet next week to decide further actions.