‘Block Everything’ protests turn new French PM’s first day into chaos

PARIS AP A day of anti-government action across France on Wednesday saw streets choked with smoke barricades in flames and volleys of tear gas as protesters denounced budget cuts and political turmoil The nationwide Block Everything campaign presented a challenge to President Emmanuel Macron and turned S bastien Lecornu s first day as prime minister into a baptism of fire Although falling short of its self-declared intention of total disruption the protests still managed to paralyze parts of daily life and ignite hundreds of hot spots across the country The deployment of police officers broke up barricades and dragged hundreds of protesters into custody yet flashpoints multiplied In Rennes a bus was torched In the southwest electrical cables were severed halting train services and snarling traffic By evening Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau reported nearly people had taken to the streets nationwide while the CGT union one of France s largest labor confederations claimed closer to His ministry broadcasted more than arrests hundreds held in custody over a dozen officers injured and more than protest actions from rallies to street fires across the country Retailleau called the day a defeat for those who demanded to block the country Yet the governing body s own tally advised a different story The Bloquons Tout or Block Everything protests did not match the scale of France s yellow vest revolt but still underscored the cycle of unrest that has dogged Macron s presidency mass deployments bursts of violence and repeated clashes between the governing body and the streets After his reelection in Macron faced firestorms of anger over unpopular pension reforms and nationwide unrest and rioting in after the deadly police shooting of a teenager on Paris outskirts Still demonstrations and sporadic clashes with riot police in Paris and elsewhere Wednesday added to a sense of problem that has again gripped France following its latest executive collapse on Monday when Prime Minister Fran ois Bayrou lost a parliamentary confidence vote The protests right away presented a challenge to Bayrou s replacement Lecornu installed Wednesday Another from the right Groups of protesters who repeatedly tried to block Paris beltway during the morning rush hour were dispersed by police using tear gas Elsewhere in the capital protesters piled up trash cans and hurled objects at police officers Firefighters were called out to a fire in a restaurant in the downtown Ch telet neighborhood where thousands of protesters gathered peacefully Road blockades traffic slowdowns and other protests were widely spread from the southern port city of Marseille to Lille and Caen in the north and Nantes and Rennes in the west to Grenoble and Lyon in the southeast Leadership communicated demonstrations in small towns too Afternoon gatherings of thousands of people in central Paris were peaceful and good-humored with placards taking aim at Macron and his new prime minister Lecornu you re not welcome read a placard brandished by a group of graphic design students Another read Macron explosion One prime minister has just been ousted and straight away we get another from the right declared apprentice Baptiste Sagot They re trying to make working people young students retirees all people in difficulty bear all the effort instead of taxing wealth A weary nation France s prolonged cycle of political instability with Macron s minority governments lurching from predicament to situation has fueled widespread discontent Paris protester Aglawen Vega a nurse and population hospital union delegate declared anger that fueled the yellow-vest protests never went away and that she wished to defend France s population services from privatization We re governed by robbers she reported People are suffering are finding it harder and harder to last out the month to feed themselves We re becoming an impoverished nation Particular criticized the disruptions It s a bit excessive stated Bertrand Rivard an accounting worker on his way to a meeting in Paris We live in a democracy and the people should not block the country because the regime doesn t take the right decisions Block Everything gathered momentum over the summer on social media and encrypted chats including on Telegram Pavel Durov Telegram s Russian-born founder now under scrutiny in France for alleged criminal activity on the messaging app announced he is proud the platform was used to organize anti-Macron rallies The movement s call for a day of blockades strikes boycotts demonstrations and other acts of protest came as Bayrou was preparing to cut masses spending by billion euros billion to rein in France s growing deficit and trillions in debts He also proposed the elimination of two general holidays from the country s annual calendar which proved wildly unpopular Spontaneous movement Retailleau a conservative who allied with Macron s centrist camp to serve as interior minister in Bayrou s cabinet and is now in a caretaker role until Lecornu puts his Cabinet together alleged Wednesday that left-wing radicals hijacked the protest movement even though it has an apparent broad range of supporters He described very numerous sometimes violent attempts to block the country but noted those efforts had ultimately failed Appeals for non-violence accompanied its online protest calls Lecornu who previously served as defense minister now inherits the task of addressing France s budget difficulties facing the same political instability and widespread hostility to Macron that contributed to Bayrou s undoing Macron s governments have been on particularly shaky ground since he dissolved the National Assembly last year triggering an unscheduled legislative voting process that stacked the lower house of parliament with his opponents The spontaneity of Block Everything is reminiscent of the yellow vests movement that started with workers camping out at traffic circles to protest a hike in fuel taxes sporting high-visibility vests It briskly spread to people across political regional social and generational divides angry at economic injustice and Macron s leadership