Far-left thugs brought violence back to the streets of France today as riot police charged crowds and masked rioters set a school ablaze, with around 600,000 people expected to rally across the country.
Balaclava-clad demonstrators with their faces covered were filmed throwing objects at police vehicles in Lyon, where officers in riot gear waded into crowds and became involved in violent confrontations.
A woman trying to protect a bloodied protester was also filmed in a confrontation with officers in the city.
In Bordeaux, protesters were pictured burning a rubbish bin in the road and standing amid clouds of tear gas as a general strike aimed at bringing the country to a standstill got underway.
The scenes came on another day of mass protest against President Emmanuel Macron‘s administration.
The domestic intelligence service expects between 500,000 and 700,000 people to join demonstrations outside Paris, while as many as 80,000 people are expected to march in the capital.
In Tournefeuille, near Toulouse, masked anti-government rioters broke into the Françoise Lycée and started a major fire.
As the flames intensified on Thursday morning, students were evacuated from the school in south-west France.
Riot police detain a protester during a demonstration demanding higher wages and supporting high school protest movement, in Lyon, France, Thursday, November 5
A protester dressed as Deadpool superhero, rides a toy unicorn during a demonstration demanding higher wages and supporting high school protest movement, in Lyon, France, Thursday, November 5
Masked anti-government rioters broke into a French school today and started a major fire at the start of a general strike aimed at bringing the country to a standstill
Riot police officers stand in front of a fire in a street during a demonstration as part of a nationwide day of actions as unions hold strikes alongside student-led demonstrations that have gripped the country for weeks, in Bordeaux, southwestern France, on November 5
Protesters burn a garbage bin during a demonstration as part of a nationwide day of actions as unions hold strikes alongside student-led demonstrations that have gripped the country for weeks in Bordeaux on November 5
Pictured: Protesters in Bordeaux burning a rubbish bin
Posting videos of the rioters using fireworks to start the fires, National Rally party parliamentary assistant Yvenn Le Coz wrote on X: ‘Françoise high school in Tournefeuille, where hordes of thugs and far-left militants set the school ablaze.’
A teacher at the school told La Dépêche news outlet: ‘They came to destroy everything.’ She described scenes of ‘guerilla warfare’.
‘I expected the high school to be blocked off, for obvious reasons,’ she added. ‘But this morning, it is dread, bewilderment and revulsion that prevail.’
‘What unfolded this morning was in no way a blockade, nor even a student protest. These were not students who had come to voice their demands – they were individuals who had come to terrorize, ransack and set fires. And they succeeded,’ she said.
By mid-morning, hundreds of emergency workers were working to clear the area and there were no reports of serious injuries.
A spokesman for the Haute-Garonne prefecture said: ‘The fire is now contained but the damage to administrative buildings is extensive.’
High school student protests against crumbling classrooms and underfunding have mushroomed into far wider demonstrations in France.
A march against the rising cost of living and inequality culminated in mass rioting on October 17, when there were almost 3,000 arrests nationwide.
On Thursday, there were 70,000 police and gendarmes on the street, together with Army units.
‘It’s going to be a strong mobilisation,’ said Marylise Leon, of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) union.
She said public and private sector workers were taking part, calling for a 10 per cent increase in the minimum wage and an end to austerity budgets.
She anticipated a turnout comparable to France’s pension reform protests in 2023 that saw over one million people march.
Pictured: A protester with a bloodied face after a confrontation with French police
Pictured: A protestor sets fire to a bin
A protester throws a tear gas canister back at police during a nationwide day of strikes and protests in Lyon, France, November 5
The domestic intelligence service expects between 500,000 and 700,000 people to join demonstrations outside Paris, with 80,000 people expected to march in the capital
As the flames intensified on Thursday morning, students were evacuated from the Françoise Lycée in Tournefeuille, near Toulouse, in the south-west
Interior Minister Laurent Nunez meanwhile said there would be ‘an extremely firm response’ to any ‘acts of violence’.
Arson is becoming a particular problem at the protests as ‘establishment’ buildings are attacked.
These have included the 19th century town hall in the city of Limoges, which was almost burned to the ground last month. A historic tourist office in Lyon was also destroyed by fire.
Left-wing politicians have been accused of stirring up trouble, while they say that paramilitary police units have provoked the crowds.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the presidential candidate for the France Unbowed party, said too many tear gas canisters had been fired at peaceful demonstrators.
He said: ‘It seems that confrontation is the very goal of this public-order strategy. It’s pathetic.’
Among those on the streets today were the infamous Yellow Vests – or Gilets Jaunes – who brought chaos to France at the start of President Macron’s time in office.
Opinion polls suggest Marine Le Pen, the hard-Right National Rally candidate, could go head-to-head against Mr Melenchon in the second round of the next presidential election in May.
She is currently appealing against a conviction for embezzling taxpayers’ cash from the European Parliament, so could become the first convicted criminal to enter the Élysée Palace.
Mr Macron will be forced to stand down, having served the maximum two terms allowed for a serving head of state in France.
Weeks of unrest have rattled his government and dominated the agenda five months ahead of the presidential election, where Le Pen currently tops the polls.
Masked demonstrators participate on a nationwide day of strikes and protests in Lyon, France, November 5
A car burns as demonstrators look on during a nationwide day of strikes and protests in Lyon, France, November 5
A protester holds a sign reading ‘Eat the rich, not the pigs’ during a demonstration for higher wages and in support of the high school protest movement in Lyon, France, Thursday, November 5
A group dressed in Halloween costumes gather in La Plaine Square on October 31 in Marseille
Thousands of protesters gather in Marseille’s La Plaine Square on Halloween and clashed with police
A protester holds a firework during a demonstration organised by labour unions in Paris on October 31
The mobilisation, called by trade unions including the left-wing CGT and backed by student groups, comes after demonstrations over living costs, public services and education triggered the worst civil unrest France has seen in years.
Authorities have sought to lower tensions after riots and looting on October 17 caught security forces off guard, leaving damaged shops and public buildings across the country and fuelling criticism of Mr Macron’s handling of the crisis.
‘We are extremely vigilant because it is out of the question to relive October 17,’ government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told a press conference after Wednesday’s cabinet meeting.
The Education Ministry said 17.5 per cent of public primary school teachers were expected to strike, while unions warned of likely disruptions to rail and public transport services.
Among those expected to join Thursday’s marches are students who say conditions in schools and growing uncertainty over their future remain major concerns.
‘We’re trying to keep mobilising as much as possible. Some people aren’t doing so because they’re afraid. A lot of people are afraid of police violence,’ said Irma de Banville, a 19-year-old student in Paris.
The French government has defended police tactics while saying any abuses would be investigated.
Mr Macron convened a defence and security meeting on Wednesday ahead of the protests, underlining how a movement that began with student anger over deteriorating school conditions and concerns about opportunities for young people has evolved into a broader challenge to his government.
‘The goal in the coming weeks is to get the river that overflowed back into its bed and to launch the presidential election in the calmest possible conditions,’ an official close to Mr Macron said, pointing to the lower number of high schools blockaded this week compared with earlier in the crisis.
Nationwide protests last Saturday were generally peaceful, with some clashes on the fringes.
Even so, the political atmosphere remains tense, with candidates manoeuvring ahead of the election and opposition parties seeking to capitalise on public frustration over living standards and government policy.
Demonstrators take the streets as tensions escalate during protests in Paris on October 31
Weeks of unrest have rattled Emmanuel Macron’s government and dominated the agenda five months ahead of a presidential election
A protester wearing a mask takes part in a protest march in Marseille, in the south of France
A vehicle is set on fire as demonstrators take the streets as tensions escalate during last Saturday’s protests
Demonstrators clash with police as tensions escalate during the protests in Paris over the weekend
Demonstrators carrying banners, flags and various costumes, clash with police as tensions escalate during protests
A previous power sector strike in mid-September reduced electricity supply in the country and cut delivery capacity at France’s biggest liquefied natural gas terminal, Dunkirk LNG.
Public and private education unions have called for strike action, as well as unions representing rail workers, public hospitals and postal services.
In demands addressed to both the government and employers, the unions are calling for an increase in the minimum wage, which has not received any discretionary boost since 2012, across-the-board wage raises, tax reforms and better learning conditions for young people.
An attempted murder investigation has been launched after petrol bombs were thrown at security forces in Paris on Saturday.
Meanwhile, several teenage protesters have been seriously wounded and thousands arrested.
Authorities have admitted to security and intelligence failures that paved the way for the clashes, large-scale looting and vandalism of public property that erupted on October 17.
On Wednesday, the Paris prefecture banned a major protest route planned between Place de la Bastille and Place de la Concorde, which would have crossed the centre of the city.
Police instead replaced it with an authorised route moving eastward, away from the centre.
Protesters in La Plaine Square, Marseille, set up barricades in the side streets on October 31
Protesters kick back tear gas canisters in Paris on Saturday. Left-wing politicians say that paramilitary police units have provoked the crowds
French high school students stage a sit-in in front of the Lycee Henri IV high school in Paris as part of today’s nationwide strikes and protests
A person puts rubbish bins into a fire in front of the International high school Montebello in Lille, northern France on November 2
A protester waves a flare during a demonstration against rising living costs in Nantes on Saturday
Several unions have denounced route bans as a move to repress freedom of demonstration, and some have filed last-minute appeals to have the routes reinstated.
‘We can feel a cumulative effect: public sympathy for the high school and university students’ movement is not waning, and people are questioning restrictions on liberties, especially bans on demonstrations,’ Fabrice Fort of the CGT union explained.
‘This has sparked a wake-up call among people who usually don’t speak out much,’ he added.
Similar protests have sparked in other European countries in recent weeks with youth-led demonstrations seen in Denmark, Germany and Italy.
