{"id":3850,"date":"2026-11-05T11:03:44","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T06:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3850"},"modified":"2026-11-05T11:03:44","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T06:03:44","slug":"france-braces-for-fresh-protests-as-macron-faces-mounting-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=3850","title":{"rendered":"France braces for fresh protests as Macron faces mounting pressure"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to march through French cities and public \u200cworkers to strike on Thursday, in a fresh test for President Emmanuel Macron after weeks of unrest that have rattled his government and dominated the agenda five months ahead of a presidential election<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The mobilisation, called by trade unions including the left-wing CGT and backed by student groups, comes \u200bafter demonstrations over living costs, public services and education triggered the worst civil unrest France has seen in \u200byears.<\/p>\n

Authorities have sought to lower tensions after riots and looting on October 17<\/a> caught security forces \u2060off guard, leaving damaged shops and public buildings across the country and fuelling criticism of Macron\u2019s handling of the crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe \u200bare extremely vigilant because it is out of the question to relive October 17,\u201d government spokeswoman Maud Bregeon told a \u200bpress conference after Wednesday\u2019s cabinet meeting.<\/p>\n

French authorities will deploy around 70,000 police nationwide, BFM TV reported. The domestic intelligence service expects between 500,000 and 700,000 people to join demonstrations outside Paris, it said.<\/p>\n

The Education Ministry said 17.5% of public primary school teachers were expected to strike, \u200bwhile unions warned of likely disruptions to rail and public transport services.<\/p>\n

Among those expected to join Thursday\u2019s marches are students \u200bwho say conditions in schools and growing uncertainty over their future remain major concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to keep mobilising as much as possible. Some \u200cpeople \u2060aren\u2019t doing so because they\u2019re afraid. A lot of people are afraid of police<\/a> violence,\u201d said Irma de Banville, a 19-year-old student in Paris.<\/p>\n

The French government has defended police tactics while saying any abuses would be investigated.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u2018Get the river back into its bed\u2019<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Macron convened a defence and security meeting on Wednesday ahead of the protests, underlining how a movement that began with \u200bstudent anger over deteriorating school conditions \u200band concerns about opportunities \u2060for young people has evolved into a broader challenge to his government.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal in the coming weeks is to get the river that overflowed back into its bed and to \u200blaunch the presidential election in the calmest possible conditions,\u201d an official close to Macron said, \u200bpointing to the \u2060lower number of high schools blockaded this week compared with earlier in the crisis.<\/p>\n

Nationwide protests last Saturday<\/a> were generally peaceful, with some clashes on the fringes. Even so, the political atmosphere remains tense, with candidates manoeuvring<\/a> ahead of the election and opposition parties seeking \u2060to capitalise \u200bon public frustration over living standards and government policy.<\/p>\n

French power unions are \u200bexpected to join Thursday\u2019s strike, state-owned utility EDF said.<\/p>\n

A previous power sector strike in mid-September reduced electricity supply<\/a> in the country and cut delivery capacity \u200bat France\u2019s biggest liquefied natural gas terminal, Dunkirk LNG.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to march through French cities and public \u200cworkers to strike on Thursday, in a fresh test for President Emmanuel Macron after weeks of unrest that have rattled his government and dominated the agenda five months ahead of a presidential election. The mobilisation, called by trade unions including the left-wing CGT and backed by student groups, comes \u200bafter demonstrations over living costs, public services and education triggered the worst civil unrest France has seen in \u200byears. Authorities have sought to lower tensions after riots…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3850\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}