France readies 70,000 police and gendarmes for 5 November strike and protests

Police deployment matches 31 October

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced on Wednesday, 4 November, that the security arrangement for Thursday, 5 November will be "exactly the same" as the one used on 31 October. Some 70,000 police officers and gendarmes are to be deployed across France, alongside 110 mobile units, 26 Centaure armoured vehicles, about fifteen water cannon vehicles, helicopters and drones. The BRI, RAID and GIGN special units will also be mobilised.

17 October 202660,000

5 November 2026 (planned)70,000

17 October 2026

60000 security personnel

5 November 2026 (planned)

70000 security personnel

Data from the article text

Nuñez counted 220 street actions, many of them declared by the intersyndicale in Paris and in numerous other cities. He identified three risks: interest from the ultra-left and radical far-left, unregistered processions that could head for public buildings, and looting and damage. Checks on roads, rail lines and in stations are planned to confiscate any weapons.

“It is a large deployment, a substantial deployment, a deployment that will be divisible, mobile and extremely agile.”

Rail, port and air traffic disruption

The SNCF expects one TGV in ten to be cancelled on the main lines, while regional and Île-de-France services face traffic that is disrupted to heavily disrupted. In the Paris region, RER A and lines K, P and V are forecast to run normally, two trains in three will run on RER B south of Paris Nord, RER E and lines J and L, one train in two on RER C and lines H, N, R and U, and one in three on RER D. Detailed timetables were due from 17:00 on Wednesday. The four SNCF unions (CGT, Unsa ferroviaire, Sud Rail and CFDT) called the strike together. CGT dockers will strike in all French ports, and air traffic controller unions filed a strike notice, with airlines expected to receive traffic reduction recommendations on Wednesday evening. The RATP had told reporters on Tuesday that metro, bus and tram services should run normally, except on the RER B.

Paris route ban and union demands

The Paris Police Prefecture published an order on Wednesday, 4 November, banning the Bastille to Concorde route proposed by the unions and offering République to Nation instead. The unions are demanding immediate wage negotiations, higher pensions, a higher point d'indice and a higher Smic, along with more resources for public services. Inflation stood at 3.4% over a year at the end of October, its highest level since January 2024, and the government has not yet decided on the size of a Smic increase that is probably expected on 1 December. Gilets jaunes plan actions on roads, roundabouts and motorways, though their scale is hard to predict. In the Val-de-Marne, the CGT filed a strike notice covering all of November. In Le Perreux-sur-Marne, the town will run a minimum childcare service in four schools, available only to children whose teacher is on strike and triggered once at least 25% of staff in a school strike.

Background: the October mobilisations

On 17 October, the first national day of mobilisation, called by gilets jaunes, unions and student and pupil groups, saw 60,000 security forces deployed. Looting was reported during that day, and nearly 3,000 shops were vandalised. On 31 October, 291 actions were counted in France, drawing between 320,000 and 500,000 people according to sources, between 70,000 and 200,000 of them in Paris. Police arrested 779 people across the country, described as taking place without major incident.

31 October 2026 (counted)291

5 November 2026 (announced)220

31 October 2026 (counted)

291 actions

5 November 2026 (announced)

220 actions

Data from the article text