France strike update: 170,000 join pension and salary protest, says union, 95,000 say police

Between 95,000 and 170,000 people protested in 190 locations to demand the repeal of the pension reform, higher wages and the preservation of public services across France on October 1. 

These strikes were organised by unions representing university students, rail workers and school teachers.

The roots of this protest go back to a reform which became law in March 2023, increasing the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030. 

Protests in January, February, March and April of that year involved over a million people each time. Subsequent strikes in October 2023 gathered 92,500 protesters (Interior Ministry figures).

The recent strikes coincided with an important policy address by new prime minister Michel Barnier, whose appointment was deemed unfriendly by unions. 

It seems unlikely that the prime minister will repeal the reform. 

Read more: October 1 strikes in France… latest on trains and schools

How many people protested and why do counts vary? 

According to the Interior Ministry and the police, there were 95,000 protesters. This is different to the 170,000 figure espoused by the CGT union. 

Similarly, for the October 2023 strikes, there were 200,000 protesters according to the CGT but the police only announced 92,500. 

This difference can be explained by the methods used by each to count the protesters. 

The police use clickers, clicking for every person. The unions use human methods: counting the number of rows and the amount of people in a row, and multiplying these numbers together. 

As the crowds move a lot, both methods are faulty and likely to have up to a 40% margin of error. However, the police’s method is deemed to be the less inefficient of the two. 

The biggest protests on October 1, 2024, took place in Toulouse (3,500 protesters), Nantes (2,900), Marseille (2,800), Rennes (2,800), Lyon (2,700), Grenoble (2,400), Bordeaux (2,200) and Montpellier (2,000), according to the Interior Ministry. 

Future 

In his speech, Mr Barnier stated that “the dialogue should reopen” surrounding the retirement reform, although he also stated the “imperative of preserving the sustainable balance of our system”. 

He also announced that the plan to reform unemployment benefits will be negotiated “in the coming weeks with social partners and unions", and the increase of the SMIC (minimum wage) by 2%, effective November 1.

Read more: Immigration and money dominate Prime Minister Barnier’s policy speech

No further action has been announced by the unions, although future protests are expected.