Paris (France) (AFP) – Social anger is not abating. New demonstrations are planned for Saturday under high security for the fourth consecutive weekend, with Paris as the epicenter where yellow vests intend to approach places of power, two days after a large-scale national mobilization at the call of the unions.

Published on: 07/11/2026 - 00:34

Between 575,000 people, according to the authorities, and 1.6 million, according to the CGT, marched throughout France on Thursday to demand an increase in their purchasing power.

Saturday's new mobilization aims to maintain pressure two days before a social conference with unions and employers convened Monday morning in Matignon, and meetings with high school and student organizations in the afternoon.

In a letter to the social partners on Friday, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, faced with a very hot social autumn, ensures that he "hears(re) the expectations expressed on salaries and purchasing power" and the "concerns" of employers. This conference “will make it possible to present concrete responses to the expectations of the French,” he says.

The youth inter-union (Student Union, Fage, Unef and USL) and regional unions (CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires, CFDT) are calling for demonstrations on Saturday "against the high cost of living and for the youth" within an authorized procession, on the same route as Thursday, linking the Places de la République to that of the Nation.

The coordination of the yellow vests has decided to go it alone, clearly marking its distance from the unions. She calls for a separate gathering, banned by the authorities, at Place de la Concorde.

“Massively disobey”

“We will go to Concorde at 2:00 p.m. and we will stay there until 7:00 p.m.,” Benjamin Ball, a member of their coordination, told the press on Friday as he left the Paris police headquarters, which banned the action. “We call for massive disobedience,” he warned.

The choice is not a coincidence, explains the yellow vests' lawyer, David Libeskind: Concorde is "an emblematic place, near the National Assembly, a place of power, since our demands are political".

The yellow vests are planning a total of around 120 actions on Saturday throughout the territory, according to their interactive map on Friday evening, far from the around 1,700 actions claimed for their Act I of October 17.

Like Thursday's day of mobilization which went "generally well" according to the Ministry of the Interior, the authorities want at all costs to avoid a repeat of the scenes of riots and looting of October 17.

The massive security system in force since then is therefore "renewed" on Friday, with 70,000 police and gendarmes mobilized throughout the territory, announced the Minister of the Interior Laurent Nuñez.

"The risk is exactly the same as for previous Saturdays", he underlined, calling on the prefects "not to let down their guard in the face of more fragmented or even sporadic phenomena whose level of violence will not decrease in intensity".

“Obviously, city centers tomorrow (Saturday, Editor's note) will be systematically protected. The prefects have issued orders prohibiting demonstrations in city centers so that there can be no spontaneous gathering,” he added.

“Don’t wait for the presidential election”

In Rennes, for example, the prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine estimated that "the conditions are not met" for the holding of gatherings in the center, in particular because of the "serious violence" on Thursday in the city.

The continuation of the movement will largely depend on the responses that the government will provide on Monday during the social conference.

The inter-union association bringing together the eight main national unions has already indicated that it will take a position on Monday evening.

“The only thing that will stop the mobilization is the response to the demands made for several weeks by employees, civil servants, young people and retirees,” these organizations (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, FSU and Solidaires) wrote on Friday.

The scale of Thursday's demonstration "must encourage the government to understand that it cannot wait for the presidential election", added Marylise Léon, the general secretary of the CFDT, the leading French union, which is demanding an increase of 100 euros net monthly in the minimum wage.

The government has been suggesting for several days that it is open to a measure on the minimum wage, but its scale will undoubtedly not meet the demands of the unions.

© 2026 AFP

The content you are trying to access does not exist or is no longer available.