Authorities in France detained hundreds of demonstrators on Wednesday, as widespread “Block Everything” protests erupted nationwide, with participants blocking thoroughfares, igniting blazes, and confronting law enforcement officials.
The government’s interior ministry reported 295 arrests in the initial hours of what was a pre-planned day of national demonstrations, protesting against budget cuts and various other grievances. France’s government faced a considerable setback on Monday when Prime Minister François Bayrou lost a parliamentary confidence vote, compelling his resignation and his succession by Sébastien Lecornu.
“One Prime Minister has just been removed, and immediately we have another from the right,” 21-year-old student Baptiste Sagot informed The Associated Press on Wednesday. He added, “They are attempting to make working individuals, young students, retirees, and all people encountering difficulties bear the entire effort, instead of imposing taxes on wealth.”
Groups of protesters who consistently tried to block Paris’s beltway during the morning rush hour were dispersed by police employing tear gas. Elsewhere in the capital, demonstrators piled up trash cans and hurled objects at police officers. Firefighters responded to the downtown Châtelet neighborhood after a blaze erupted in a restaurant, threatening to extend to an adjacent building.
Parisian police confirmed 183 arrests by mid-afternoon, with over 100 other individuals taken into custody across different parts of France, according to figures from the interior ministry.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau reported that demonstrators set a bus ablaze in the city of Rennes.
Road blockades, traffic slowdowns, and various other forms of protest were reported across a broad geographical area—from the southern port city of Marseille to Lille and Caen in the north, and from Nantes and Rennes in the west to Grenoble and Lyon in the southeast.
The “Bloquons Tout,” or “Block Everything,” movement had gained momentum throughout the summer, utilizing social media and encrypted chat platforms, as reported by the AP.
Its call for a day of strikes and other protest actions coincided with Bayrou’s preparations to significantly reduce public spending by $51 billion, an effort to control France’s expanding deficit and trillions in national debt.
President Macron had appointed Bayrou in December, following a series of resignations earlier in the year, during which three other prime ministers had vacated the top position.
Several reports on Monday highlighted that by the conclusion of the first quarter of 2025, France’s public debt would be equivalent to 114% of its GDP.
Approximately 80,000 police officers were deployed throughout France on Wednesday to manage the protests, the AP reported.
Caitlin McFall of Digital and