France workers hit budgetary plans

Hundreds of thousands of workers are expected to participate in a strike action across France on Thursday, after the unions called for a day of protests against the budget cuts.

The Interior Ministry said that between 600,000 and 900,000 people could attend national demonstrations, adding that it would deploy 80,000 police officers.

Eraflues were reported in the cities of Lyon and Nantes, where the police used gaps to try to disperse the demonstrators.

The strikes come barely a week after Sébastien Lecornu, a close ally of President Emmanuel Macron, was appointed Prime Minister following the overthrow of the government of François Bayrou.

Public transport was strongly disrupted Thursday morning, with many metro lines in Paris were closed, while the demonstrators blocked the roads and streets in the big cities of France.

The students gathered in front of the schools and universities of the capital and beyond, blocking the entrances and singing slogans. About a third of teachers have come out.

Pharmacists also join the mass strike, with 98% of pharmacies that should remain closed.

The unions have called for more spending on public services, higher taxes on the rich and budget cuts described by the Bayrou short -term government.

Sophie Binet, the head of one of the main unions in France, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), said: “We must be in force, this is how we collect force to continue to fight … to force the government and employers to end the policies that only serve the richest.”

Bruno Retailleau, the outgoing Minister of the Interior, said that 58 people had been arrested in France in the middle of the morning.

“We will be without compromise and implacable,” warned Retailleau, adding that he had given instructions to the police to make arrests “as soon as there is any discharge”.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the head of the Radical Left Party France Unbowed (LFI), asked the participants of the “disciplined” strike.

“All violent actions would only serve one person-Mr. Retailleau,” he said.

Before the demonstrations, Laurent Nunez, the Paris prosecutor, had expressed his concerns that the demonstrations were “derailed” by far left groups and urged stores in the city center to close for the day.

Thursday’s strikes come after around 200,000 people participated in demonstrations organized by the basic blocking movement (let us block everything) last week, which caused disturbances across France.

Bayrou’s unpopular budget proposal – aimed at reducing France’s high public debt with cuts of 44 billion euros (38 billion pounds sterling) – made him lose a vote of confidence in the National Assembly last week when parties through the United Political Specter to overthrow it.

The new Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, who has not yet brought together a ministerial team, has not entirely given up cuts and had interviews with opposition parties to try to reach a compromise on the budget.

Lecornu’s position is perilous. Like his two predecessors, Bayrou and Michel Barnier, he faces a suspended parliament divided into three blocks with deeply different political trends, which makes it difficult to create a pleasant budget to a majority of deputies.

But France also looks at the cannon of public debt in a spiral, equivalent to nearly € 50,000 per French citizen.

Barnier and Bayrou were also killed as a result of their proposed budgets, which would have led to substantial discounts – with politicians on the left to request tax increases.