October 6, October 17: Is France set for a month of protests?

France is bracing for more protest action and strikes this month as calls for a ‘general mobilisation’ on Saturday October 17 increase. 

It comes after public-sector strikes on September 29, supported by the country’s eight main unions saw around 300,000 demonstrators turn out across France (CGT figures), bolstering support for further strike action. The interior ministry put the figure at around 206,000. 

This is higher than the last public-sector strikes in December 2024, which saw between 131,000 (interior ministry figures) and 200,000 (CGT figures) join demonstrations

The government’s draft 2027 budget – announced today – has been met with criticism from both the right and left, which is set to add to mounting anger.

Students are also planning protest action on October 6.

Calls for new ‘gilets jaunes’ action

October 17 has already been cited as a day for widespread demonstrations in France, with ‘the return’ of the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) protests.

Social media campaigns calling for the return of the decentralised, populist protests have been circulating in recent weeks. Early indications suggest online support for a renewed round of the protests, which first launched in 2018 with several violent demonstrations. 

Social media posts for the campaigns have highlighted cost of living issues, including the high cost of fuel. 

Media sites such as TikTok have been awash with support, with calls for a ‘general mobilisation’ across the country although who exactly is behind this new movement is unclear. As the protests are decentralised, there is no single authoritative spokesperson. 

Several opinion polls, however, show citizens give their general support to a new round of the movement, with as many as 66% in a September poll by media outlet BFMTV saying they approved of the movement.

Political backing

The movement could evolve this time and become intertwined with a wider protest movement against the government. 

During the first round of protests, official support was scarce, and the movement’s lack of political backing (it was not a union nor political party-led movement) was highlighted despite its wider support among both the left and right of the French spectrum. 

However, with the 2027 presidential election on the horizon, several parties are eyeing up the protests as a way to pick up voters and as a barometer of a popular feeling against the status quo looking for change.

Communist Party leader Fabien Roussel has already officially backed the protests on October 17, with members of the left-wing La France Insoumise also supporting the protests.

However, many others are reluctant to do so due to the violence of the original protests). 

Unions hint at support 

Unions have been buoyed by the turnout on September 29 and have hinted that further action is on its way. 

“I want to warn the government: the pressure is mounting, and anger is rising over wages and the cost of living,” said Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT union. 

“If the government continues to bury its head in the sand and turn a deaf ear, the battlefronts will multiply,” she added.

Unions are unlikely to call for any strike action on October 17 – a Saturday, where most public-sector workers have the day off – but some unions and political organisations have expressed support for the wider mobilisation. 

However, unions are also likely to call for separate strike action in the month, which could expand from a public-sector strike to a call for workers across all sectors, including private establishments, to down tools.

A ‘general strike’ of this nature could lead to widespread disruption.

Union-led strikes typically take place on a Tuesday or Thursday, and could see the government stretched between weekend protests and weekday demonstrations.

Students engage in violent protests

Students at hundreds of French secondary schools have been protesting for several days, with the movement spreading and violence reported at some site

Protests have continued today, and a national day of action on October 6 has been called for by student unions, despite more than 1,000 arrests and over 100 combined injuries to both pupils and law enforcement. 

The protests, called over poor conditions in French schools,precarity, university access/selection and wider public-service cuts, add to the growing list of demonstrations and anger the French government must counter. 

The protests are also spreading through social media - similar to the gilets jaunes - with support expected to grow.