Black bloc clashes with police in Lyon during France's fourth autumn strike

National turnout and security

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said 70,000 police officers were deployed and promised an "extremely firm response" to violence. The ministry first reported 600,000 demonstrators, then revised the figure to 575,000, including 65,000 in Paris. It said 448 people were detained. Firefighters responded to 86 fires, including one at a school common room in Toulouse, and an effigy of a police riot officer was burned in Strasbourg.

Sophie Binet of the CGT said more than 250,000 people had marched in almost 70 towns and cities by 13:00, and called the day "just the start". The ministry said marches were largely peaceful, with clashes between police and "groups of radical and far-left activists" in Rennes, Nantes, Lyon and Marseille.

Black bloc clashes in Lyon

In Lyon, several hundred people in black, their faces covered, formed a black bloc near the Gallieni bridge over the Rhône. They threw projectiles and fireworks at riot police, who answered with tear gas and charges. A car was set alight near the bridge.

The Lyon prefecture counted 40 injured, including 34 police officers and six protesters, and 24 arrests, according to voz.us. It also put turnout at 30,500 against the CGT's 55,000 and said local authorities had banned demonstrations in much of downtown Lyon, a restriction the unions unsuccessfully challenged; the clashes paralysed the city's metro and funiculars.

Nuñez's office acknowledged "tensions in Lyon, where several hundred individuals formed a black bloc", even as it described the marches nationally as proceeding "generally well".

Disruption and demands

The strike closed schools and disrupted hospitals and public transport. The education ministry said 16% of teachers had gone on strike; unions said disruption affected more than one in four lycées and most universities. About 40% of scheduled train services were cancelled, and the Eiffel Tower was shut for the day.

The action was called by L'intersyndicale, the group that represents all of France's main trade unions, to demand higher wages and public services, and backed by student groups. The CGT demanded an immediate 10% rise in the minimum wage; the CFDT asked for 100 euros a month. Both dismissed the increase the government brought in on 1 November, which they said adds 15 euros to a monthly pay packet. Student organisations asked for more than 10 billion dollars in the education budget, 1.5 billion dollars for school infrastructure and 250,000 extra university places.

The movement grew out of a September strike by students and teachers at a high school in the Parisian suburbs over staffing and resources. Their demands were met and the strike ended, but the movement spread nationwide, drawing in trade unions and yellow vest protesters.

What happens next

Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu will hold a "social conference" with employers and unions next Monday, aimed at "purchasing power and wages", his office said. Unions vowed to take the wave of protests that began in September "to the next level", and the revived yellow vests called for further blockades and protests on Friday and Saturday.

France heads into a presidential election in April, with Marine Le Pen leading in the polls.