After Weeks Of Riots, France's Thursday General Strike Forces Macron's PM To Blink

France's nationwide strike put 575,000 people in the streets on Thursday by the Interior Ministry's count, topping the 550,000 it counted on Oct. 17, when protests in several cities turned into riots and looting. France's major labor union, the CGT, claimed close to 1.6 million, France 24 reports. After the marches, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu called unions and employers to Matignon on Monday for talks on wages and the cost of living.French police clash with protesters in Lyon on day of nationwide rallies, strike (Via Detroit News)The CFDT, CGT, FO, UNSA and FSU called the strike over wages, pensions and the 2027 budget, and Sortiraparis reported that every other union federation had said it would take part, with the CFTC backing it.Grève du 5 novembre: la CGT prévoit 244 lieux de rassemblement à travers la France pic.twitter.com/G8EohjyrBP— BFM Première (@BFMPremiere) November 4, 2026The Interior Ministry said the declared marches "generally went well" (translated) and reported 448 arrests, according to franceinfo, against 1,314 after the Oct. 24 protests. Riot police fired teargas at the end of the marches in Lyon and Bordeaux, while officers in Lyon also used water cannon as fires were set in the streets. Police were pelted with pétanque balls in Rennes and projectiles in Pau and Orléans, and in Toulouse, fireworks fired at a school started a blaze that burned its student services office. In eastern Paris, police used teargas to keep students from reaching the Hélène Boucher high school after stopping students from building barricades out of wheeled bins outside of schools in the early morning.The unions called the strike after leaders met Lecornu on Oct. 21 and left "unanimously disappointed," according to Euronews. CGT leader Sophie Binet said Lecornu announced no measures and showed "no consideration of our demands," and that she wants strikes to take over from street protests so the movement can "generalise the strike." The CFTC's Cyril Chabanier was more upbeat, saying the government "opened the door" to talks on the minimum wage.The strike follows weeks of unrest. According to the Interior Ministry, the Oct. 17 protests at about 550,000 people and the Oct. 24 protests at 410,000, the Rio Times reports, with unions claiming higher figures. The Oct. 24 protests brought 1,314 arrests and 53 injured police and gendarmes. In response, Paris imposed a curfew from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. around Place de la République and Les Halles, and Lyon renewed its own. Euronews says Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin put the number of people taken into police custody nationwide at 2,500, with 917 sent for immediate trial, and that the government blames "the ultra-left" for much of the violence. President Emmanuel Macron, speaking from Qatar, called for "firmness" against those responsible.France's Interior Ministry said 575,000 people participated in Thursday's protests nationwide. [Hannah McKay/Reuters]High school and university students have been protesting for weeks as well, demanding more funding for education, repairs to school buildings and the scrapping of the Parcoursup admissions platform - which the government says will be replaced for the 2028 admissions round.Protesters face police during a demonstration for demanding higher wages and in support of the high school protest movement, in Lyon, France, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Laurent Cipriani)Rail was the most exposed sector to the strike, since the four representative SNCF unions called the strike. About one in ten TGVs was expected to be canceled, and Intercités, TER, RER and Transilien services disrupted, with only one train in three running on RER D. SUD-Rail secretary Fabien Villedieu called it "a big strike over pay, jobs and working conditions." Paris metro, bus and tram services were forecast to run normally, though CGT-RATP's open-ended strike notice let staff walk out individually. Airport ground-staff unions also called a strike, but France's civil aviation authority had not asked airlines to cancel flights at Roissy or Orly. The Eiffel Tower closed for the day.In schools, the Education Ministry estimated 17.54% of public primary teachers were on strike, while the FSU-SNUipp union said nearly 80 Paris schools were closed and up to 75% of teachers were out in parts of Seine-Saint-Denis. The government said 81 high schools were disrupted on Thursday, against 1,000 by the student unions' count, and that a third of higher education sites were affected, the Guardian reports.Monday's talks at Matignon will hopefully be more productive than the Oct. 21 meeting, where, by the unions' account, Lecornu offered nothing. Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou told TF1 that "the government wants to act fast on the Smic," France's minimum wage, with a boost he said "is exceptional in nature" (translated). Echos Plus reports the government is weighing a 0.6% increase, against the extra 100 euros a month net the CFDT wants.That said, the 2027 budget the unions are striking over has already hit a wall. On Wednesday, the day before the walkout, the National Assembly unanimously rejected the revenue half of the bill, as we noted, which sinks the whole bill in the lower house and sends the government's original text to the Senate, LCP reports.Whether Thursday becomes the start of something longer is still an open question. Binet, who had urged workers to extend the strike beyond one day, called it "a very serious time, with a very dangerous authoritarian drift from the government" (translated), according to the Guardian. The eight unions in the coalition said "the only thing that will stop the mobilization is an answer to our demands" (translated), and they meet again Monday, after the Matignon talks, to decide what comes next.The Yellow Vests coordination, which called Thursday a "People's November 5," called for the strike to "continue and spread" with blockades and local actions across France on Friday, Sortiraparis reported. For Saturday, Paris police approved a union march from République to Nation on Thursday's route but banned the Yellow Vests' "Act IV" rally at Place de la Concorde, both called for 2 p.m., it reported Friday. The movement says it will turn out anyway and "disobey massively" (translated); joining a banned demonstration carries a 135-euro fine.