New French PM takes office as ‘Block Everything’ protests rock country – as it happened

Parisian police reported 183 arrests by mid-afternoon, with more than 100 other people taken into police custody elsewhere in France, according to the interior ministry count.

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 south-east.

Afternoon gatherings of thousands of people in central Paris were peaceful and good humoured, with placards taking aim at Macron and his new prime minister.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has expressed pride that protesters in France used the platform to organise rallies against president Macron.

He wrote on X:

Proud that Telegram is a tool for protests in France against Macron’s failed policies. After 8 years of neglect, people are done with empty PR and posturing - and they’re striking back.

The Russian-born entrepreneur was detained in Paris in 2024 and is now under formal investigation by French authorities over Telegram’s alleged involvement in facilitating criminal activity.

A central Paris restaurant appeared to be set on fire during the ‘Block Everything’ protests, France24 is reporting.

French TV showed images of flames coming from the building, while a man was seen climbing down via scaffolding on the building next door.

Pictures show the restaurant is Wafu Bar, located in Rue St Denis. Police officers could be seen attempting to secure a perimeter around the building.

One in, one out. On Monday night, “Bye-bye Bayrou” parties were held around France as François Bayrou, the now ex-prime minister of France, was ejected in a landslide parliamentary confidence vote against his plans for austerity. Bayrou, the third French PM to resign in a year, had lasted just nine months. His predecessor, Michel Barnier, was toppled after just three.

Twenty-four hours after the government’s collapse, the revolving door was opened again and Emmanuel Macron appointed a successor: the 39-year-old defence minister and one of the president’s closest allies, Sébasian Lecornu. This was an uncharacteristically swift attempt by Macron to fill the vacuum and quell a mood of insurrection in the country. But it may not be enough.

Much depends on how extensively the call for a nationwide shutdown of transport and other services by a new grassroots protest campaign called Bloquons Tout! (Block Everything!) is heeded by the public.

The new PM took office amid street clashes with police, burning bins, barricades and go-slow operations around the country. Some regional train services are down. The main trade unions have separately called for mobilisations and protests on the 18 September.

Organised anonymously online over the summer, and later supported by some leftwing parties, Bloquons Tout!, like the gilets jaunes anti-government movement of 2018, is leaderless. Analysts, though, are wary of drawing close comparisons with the gilets jaunes. “The movement’s ideological and sociological profile is difficult to establish,” said Pierre Purseigle, lecturer in modern European history at the University of Warwick. “The political situation is evolving and we may know within weeks if Bloquons Tout! is a flash in the pan and or the harbinger of a mass social movement.”

Protesters across France disrupted traffic, burnt rubbish bins and at times clashed with police on Wednesday in a bid to “Block Everything” in a show of anger against president Emmanuel Macron, the political establishment and planned budget cuts.

Tens of thousands of security forces who had been deployed across the country removed blockades as fast as possible, officials said, meaning that France was, for now, not blocked despite some scuffles.

Nearly 300 protesters were arrested across the country.

Tens of thousands of demonstrators gathered for largely peaceful protests in Marseille, Montpellier and Lyon.

In Marseille, police estimated the crowd at 8,000, while organisers claimed 30,000 participants and the CGT union reported as many as 80,000, France24 reported.

Lyon saw around 8,000 protesters, according to police, while Montpellier saw approximately 6,000.

In Montpellier, protesters carried anti-capitalist signs, demanded the protection of public services and chanted slogans including “Lecornu, you’re screwed.”

Protests against the French government, as part of the ‘block everything’ movement, have been taking place across the country. Here are just a few images of demonstrations in Montpellier, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Paris and Nantes:

For the third time in a year a French prime minister has resigned and the president has had to swiftly choose a replacement. What’s behind the chaos? Angelique Chrisafis reports in the latest episode of the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast:

With France gripped by a prolonged cycle of instability, where minority governments installed by President Emmanuel Macron have lurched from crisis to crisis, the movement also had support from people who did not protest, reports the Associated Press (AP).

“There’s a lot of weariness, shared weariness, a lot of frustration that things aren’t moving forward,” said Lila, a Paris office worker who asked that her family name not be published. “That, in part, explains these blockades and this generalised unhappiness.”

Some criticised the disruptions, according to the AP.

“It’s a bit excessive,” said 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 government doesn’t take the right decisions.”

The newswires have captured some dramatic images of the protests across France:

One possible path for Sébastien Lecornu to pass the budget involves uniting the Socialists – who want to water down cuts and tax the rich – with his former party, the Republicans, who are dead-set against any tax rises, reports Reuters.

Emmanuel Macron, in an unusual step, called Socialist party leader Olivier Faure on Tuesday to tell him he would not be appointing a leftist as prime minister. But on Wednesday, Faure appeared to leave the door ajar to working with Lecornu, while also saying he would support a no-confidence measure if he felt the government did not take on board its budgetary priorities.

But the protests – an expression of broad discontent with Macron, proposed budget cuts and the entire political class – underline the task facing Lecornu.

“Anger has been rumbling for months, even years,” said Daniel Bretones, a union member protesting in Marseille. “We’re on the fifth prime minister under Macron’s second term, and it has never changed anything.”

Meanwhile, here are some images from protests in Paris:

A teacher taking part in the protests in Paris said he was against the ousted government’s planned budget cuts. “[François]Bayrou was ousted, [now] his policies must be eliminated,” Christophe Lalande told Reuters, calling for more funding for schools and hospitals.

At another protest in the city, unionist Amar Lagha told the news agency:

This day is a message to all the workers of this country: that there is no resignation, the fight continues, and a message to this government that we won’t back down, and if we have to die, we’ll die standing.

Here is a live stream from the Gare du Nord station in Paris where ‘block everything’ protesters have gathered:

In the southern port city of Marseille, police stopped 200 demonstrators from blockading a main road, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

French president Emmanuel Macron’s decision to name a close ally as prime minister was a “slap in the face”, said Florent, a protester in Lyon who gave only his first name to the AFP. “We need change,” he said.

Groups of protesters repeatedly tried to block Paris’ beltway during the morning rush hour on Wednesday, reports the Associated Press (AP).

They erected barricades and hurled objects at police officers, blocked and slowed traffic and carried out other protest actions.

In Paris, firefighters removed burnt objects from a barricade set up by students to block traffic near a high school. Paris police said 132 people had been arrested in the demonstrations there so far – an increase on the 75 reported earlier (see opening summary).

“It’s the same shit, it’s the same, it’s Macron who’s the problem, not the ministers,” Fred, a representative for the RATP public transport branch of the CGT union said at a protest in Paris, according to the Associated Press (AP). “The ministers, it’s a problem, but it’s more Macron and his way of working, which means he has to go.”

The ‘block everything’ movement – a broad expression of discontent with no centralised leadership and an ad hoc organisation by social media – sprung up online in May among right-wing groups, researchers and officials said, but has since been taken over by the left and far-left.

In the western city of Nantes, protesters blocked a motorway with burning tyres and bins. Police used teargas to disperse people trying to occupy a roundabout in the same city.

In Montpellier, in the south-west, police scuffled with protesters who had set up a barricade to block traffic at a roundabout. A protester carried a banner that read: “Macron resign”. Police used teargas to disperse the protesters, some of whom threw various objects at them, reports the AP.

Here are some images from the protests coming in today via the newswires: