PARIS (AFP) - France’s hardline interior minister said Friday he did not anticipate a “large-scale” response to calls for protests next week, but ordered police to “show the utmost firmness” in case of any disorder.
A viral campaign has for weeks urged French people to stage a nationwide “shutdown” next Wednesday, two days after the government of Prime Minister François Bayrou faces a confidence vote in parliament over an austerity budget standoff.
“I don’t believe there will be any large-scale movements,” Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said, adding that hard-left forces and some unions have backed the anti-government campaign dubbed “Let’s block everything”.
“It is very clear that the movement has shifted to the left,” Retailleau said. “Given the nature of these movements and their radicalism, there may be some spectacular actions.”
Organizers of the campaign have floated tactics ranging from protests to civil disobedience action such as blocking train stations and picketing oil refineries.
Intelligence officials have warned the movement’s decentralized nature makes its scale and impact difficult to predict, with law enforcement preparing for any eventuality.
“I have sent a telegram to the prefects (top local officials) asking them to show the utmost firmness,” Retailleau said. “Blocking everything is worse than anything else. The country doesn’t need to be blocked.”
In the telegram, dated Thursday, Retailleau ordered police to fully mobilize to “manage this crisis”.
“No damage to public buildings in general, and landmark buildings in particular, will be tolerated,” he said, adding schools and universities must also be protected.
Signs have multiplied that many French people are growing exasperated with political deadlock as well as issues including the cost of living and crime.
Bayrou’s government is expected to lose Monday’s confidence vote, in a new blow to President Emmanuel Macron, now on his sixth prime minister since taking office in 2017.
Several French people who planned to take part in next week’s protests said they were frustrated with government policies, including Bayrou’s proposal to cut two public holidays, and said they wanted to have a greater say in political matters.“Taxes on the rich are never voted in, while we are asked to tighten our belts,” said 35-year-old Chloe Souske from the village of Monterfil in northwestern France.
“A gap has opened up with the political elite who work for billionaires,” added Benjamin Ball, a 41-year-old from the northwestern Paris suburb of Argenteuil.