PARIS, September 10. /TASS/. Anti-government protest rallies in France within the framework of the Block Everything movement saw a total of 175,000 people come out to demonstrate, Le Figaro said, citing the republic’s Interior Ministry.
As of 5 p.m. local time (3 p.m. GMT), authorities had recorded 812 separate protest actions, including 550 rallies and 262 attempts to block various facilities. In a number of cities, the disturbances resulted in clashes with the police with at least 13 law enforcement officers hurt.
The Interior Ministry also reported 473 individuals detained across the country with 339 of them remaining in custody. Less than one half of those, 203, were in Paris where 106 of those detained remain in custody. "The situation is particularly tense in Rennes, Nantes, and Paris where warnings have been issued following clashes with law enforcement," the agency said.
Nationwide protest rallies and strikes against the government’s economic policies are underway in France. Their organizers urged to "block the country," including by disrupting the operations of ports, transport infrastructure and general traffic.
According to the media, the first calls to "block the country" appeared online in May. However, the calls spread after the July statement by then-Prime Minister Francois Bayrou, who proposed making several state holidays working days and applying austerity measures to fill the state’s coffers with almost 44 billion euros.
The protesters’ slogans vary from women's rights to attacks on the government and police, however, the most popular ones demand that the country’s President Emmanuel Macron resign and taxes for the rich increase. Some protesters noted the government and politicians’ disengagement from reality and the issues of ordinary people, as well as urged to spend money on hospitals, transportation and other spheres, as opposed to manufacturing weapons. This has been triggered by Bayrou’s budget cut proposal to reduce spending on almost all expenses with the exception of the defense ones which the authorities plan to increase ahead of the previously planned schedule.