Nearly 200 people arrested mid-morning in France during protests to block the country

Paris.- Nearly 200 people have been arrested in France until mid-morning this Wednesday in the operations of law enforcement to prevent half a hundred blockades registered, especially on highways and transport infrastructure, at the beginning of the day of protests against budget cuts. These figures have been made public by the Minister of the Interior, Bruno Retailleau, who in a press conference has attacked the “violent actions” that have occurred and has emphasized the initial development of a day of protests that “has nothing to do with a citizen mobilization” because it is being “distorted” by “the extreme left”.

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To illustrate this, he explained that actions directed by “small groups” of people, in many cases hooded, who have “the DNA of the far-left and extreme left” have been observed. “In France, there is a right to demonstrate, but on condition of respecting the law,” the minister stressed, reiterating that the order to the “nearly 80,000” police and gendarmes mobilized is “not to allow any blockades.” “I have given instructions of great firmness, of great reactivity,” he indicated. Among the actions that have occurred overnight and in the first part of the morning, the “sabotage” of some cables has stood out, which has forced the suspension of train traffic between Toulouse and Auch (southwest). The minister, who is part of the conservative party The Republicans (LR), has criticized political figures who on social media have launched messages calling for “insurrection or violence”, in a barely veiled allusion to La France Insoumise (LFI) of Jean-Luc Mélenchon. He has also issued a warning because since late morning and in the afternoon the protest organizers have called for demonstrations in which, according to Retailleau, “groups of the extreme left will try to infiltrate” to carry out violent actions. The Interior Minister has reiterated that law enforcement will intervene to arrest the perpetrators of those actions and bring them before the Justice system. The protest, whose slogan is “let’s block everything,” initially emerged on social media but has since been taken over by organizations and individuals from the radical left, with the notable support of LFI and some unions, to denounce above all the outgoing government’s plans to proceed with an adjustment of almost 44 billion euros in the 2026 budgets. From early morning, there have been blockades on highways and ring roads of major cities such as Paris, Lyon, Marseille or Rennes, with clashes in many cases between protesters and law enforcement.