On Sunday, thousands protested against the rising prices of oil and the strike for higher wages at refineries.
Sunday saw thousands of protestors take to the streets in Paris against rising prices. After weeks of strikes by workers at oil refineries, there was a call for a general strike.
Jean-Luc Melenchon was the leader of La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), a hard-left political party. He marched alongside Annie Ernaux this year, who won the Nobel Prize in Literature. He called for a general strike on Tuesday.
“You’re about to have a week like none other. We started it with this march,” he said to the crowd.
Melenchon followed four unions, but not France’s largest, the moderate CFDT, which called for strikes on Tuesday to protest wage increases.
The protests were also called by the four unions to help preserve the right to strike after the government ordered some oil refinery workers to be requisitioned. This was a move that unions considered a violation to their constitutional rights.
Following a call from the NUPES coalition parliamentary coalition, the march was held in support of domestic violence allegations that have plagued senior members.
Gabriel Attal, budget minister, said that the left-wing coalition was seeking to exploit the current circumstances. These include ongoing strikes at French utilities EDF’s nuclear plants as well French oil refineries.
On France 1 radio, he stated that today’s march was a march of supporters trying to block the country.
