Eyewitness report: Strikers and students rock France
Anti-fascism and Palestinian liberation mixed with anger at president Emmanuel Macron and the establishment
By Camilla Royle in Paris
Tuesday 06 October 2026
On the streets of Paris (Picture: Guy Smallman)
There were protests in 40 cities across France on Tuesday as workers and parents joined the movement of secondary school students demanding a future.
In Paris, organisers said 100,000 packed the streets. They were overwhelmingly young school and university students.
Young people chanted anti-fascist slogans. They included, “La jeunesse emmerde le Front National”—“The youth tell the Front National to fuck off” in a reference to the previous name of the fascist RN. And, “Siamo tutti antifascisti”—“We are all anti-fascist”.
They sang the Internationale and the French national anthem La Marseillaise. And there were Palestinian flags and chants of “free Palestine”. Other home made placards referenced the student and worker uprising of 1968.
When the presidential candidate for the left wing LFI party, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, arrived at the start of the march, he was mobbed by crowds of people. Both young and older protesters greeted him with chants of “president Mélenchon”.
Mélenchon called on his supporters, including many members of parliament, to join the protests. He wore a white armband on Tuesday to symbolise his support for the high school students.
As the march arrived in Place de la Nation, hundreds of riot police attacked with huge clouds of tear gas and charged at the crowd with batons. Protesters threw fireworks and set bins on fire.
Nora, Sarah and Sonia, three university students, spoke to Socialist Worker about their reasons for joining the protest.
“We protest for the rights of high school students,” they said. “All the media talks about is violence. But there are real reasons behind their protests.
“The RN is fascist. It’s homophobic and Islamophobic”.
Another student, Alice, said that young people are worried about their futures, “We are all worried about fascism, every student is worried about that. And about finding a job, everything is kind of scary.
“High school students are very stressed. We went through that so we want to be here with them.”
Trade unionists linked arms and faced up to cops with tear gas.
Pierre works in the tax office and is part of the Solidaires union federation. He told Socialist Worker, “I am on strike today, in solidarity with the students against repression and because we have the same problems with austerity.”
Clement, from the CFDT union federation, told Socialist Worker, “The demands of the school students are totally legitimate. The buildings are crumbling, there are rats in the classrooms, there are 30, 35 or even 40 people in a classroom.
“It’s a terrible period with the far right rising across Europe. We could see fascism in France for the second time in its history.”
Clement added that the current president Emmanuel Macron has “rolled out the red carpet for the RN’s Marine Le Pen”.
Another protester mentioned that there are already fascists joining the police force and that Le Pen would use them to smash the movement on the streets if she was in office.
Meet the pupils’ blockade: ‘We are young, determined and revolutionary’
Macron’s austerity measures and repression, combined with the normalisation of racism against migrants has created the conditions for the far right to rise.
Le Pen is currently leading in the polls, while Mélenchon is currently in second place.
The best hope of beating Le Pen will be if the movement stays on the streets and links the anger of the students with the power of the organised working class.
Key opportunities to deepen the movement are coming this month. Total Energy workers are set to strike Thursday—and there is a day of action on 17 October.
Anti-fascists are planning to demonstrate against the far right RN party’s conference on 24 October.
If the movement of school students and strikes deepens, it has the power to transform the political situation in France.
Discover more from Labor for Palestine
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
