France braces for high-risk protests and national strikes on Thursday
“Explosive devices were thrown at around fifteen gendarmes as well as police officers,” the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Sunday, following a weekend of demonstrations that left police scrambling across France.
Shopfronts on prominent Parisian thoroughfares including the Rue de Rivoli and the Champs-Elysees sat behind heavy plywood boards as the city braced for a fresh wave of high-risk protests, local outlet BFMTV reported. French trade unions, high school students, and other groups organized a national day of strikes for Thursday to protest soaring living costs and deteriorating public services, prompting territorial intelligence officers to categorize the date as high-risk with 500,000 to 700,000 demonstrators expected nationwide.
Attempted Murder Probe Opened After Molotov Cocktail Attack
French prosecutors opened an attempted murder investigation after rioters hurled a petrol bomb at security forces during Saturday’s rallies. The incendiary device exploded near the feet of officers, inflicting second-degree burns on a gendarme whose leg caught fire. Around 70,000 police and gendarmes deployed across the country to manage an estimated 320,000 participants on Saturday. While most marches remained peaceful, the interior ministry reported more than 770 arrests during the weekend—roughly half the total recorded the previous week.
The Yellow Vest movement joined trade unions in calling for strikes and blockades, demanding sustained pressure over household expenses driven by high consumer prices. The French government noted that national fuel prices declined following the release of strategic reserves earlier in the week, though worker grievances over wages persisted amid broader economic strains linked to the Middle East conflict.
Student Blockades Resume as Admissions Overhaul Falls Short
High school and university students returned from a two-week break on Monday to resume demonstrations on a reduced scale, attempting to blockade campuses across Paris, Marseille, and Rennes. The Education Ministry registered 41 blockaded high schools—about 1 percent of institutions nationwide—down sharply from the hundreds blockaded prior to the holiday. Education Minister Edouard Geffray called the attempted blockades marginal during an appearance on France Inter, noting that while protests are legal, obstructing school access is not.
Pierre Sourzat, head of the student group Lyceens!, dismissed government concessions as insufficient. Geffray previously proposed capping class sizes at 28 students, allocating 4 billion euros for school renovations, and adding 15,000 higher education places alongside a new admissions system by 2028. Sourzat told reporters that the proposed reforms failed to fix chronic shortages in university slots or address classroom conditions adequately beyond 10th-grade adjustments.
French Unions Back Thursday Protests over Living Costs
The protests that began in the Paris suburbs in September have expanded into a broader movement seen across several European nations, including Germany and Italy, where demonstrators have clashed with police over living costs and educational standards. With all major French trade unions backing Thursday’s mobilization, territorial intelligence officers anticipate high-risk flashpoints as demonstrators maintain pressure through the weekend, according to BFMTV.