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French wage protests draw large crowds as school blockades divide parents

Most November 5 marches were peaceful, the report says, but school fires and hostility toward Raphaël Glucksmann also marked the day.

Channel: TF1 INFO ·

FranceStory of November 6, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of TF1 INFO's most watched videos since yesterday, with 46,564 views.

TF1 INFO: The news division of TF1, a private French television channel owned by the Bouygues group. 1.8M subscribers and 2B views.

Manifestations du 5 novembre : une forte mobilisation et des cortèges globalement calmes｜TF1 INFO

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0:19Demonstrators in several cities call for higher pay to offset the pressure of rising prices.
2:18Sophie Binet presents strike action as a new stage; the report also shows evening clashes in Paris.
3:24School fires, damage, a gas leak and evacuations feature in reports from Tournefeuille and Lille.
5:45Some parents keep school entrances open, while others support the protesting students.
8:34Glucksmann faces boos in the Paris march and is escorted away; he says political hostility will not deter him.

Demands for higher pay brought demonstrators into streets across France on November 5, while school blockades exposed a separate disagreement among parents: whether to keep classrooms accessible or stand alongside the protesting students.

France's TF1 INFO television news service reports that the Interior Ministry counted 575,000 demonstrators nationwide. The CGT trade union claimed roughly a million more. Its evening-news coverage describes the marches as overwhelmingly peaceful, with reports from Nantes, Marseille, Toulouse and Paris showing the breadth of the mobilization.

A farmer, a nurse and a retired doctor are among those explaining why they joined. Their shared concern is purchasing power: wages and incomes that do not stretch far enough as prices rise. CGT general secretary Sophie Binet presents the move into strike action as a new stage of the campaign. Yvan Ricordeau of the CFDT, another major union confederation, also appears in the report.

The broadcast then turns from the marches to disorder around schools. It reports fires and serious damage outside high schools in Tournefeuille, near Toulouse in southwestern France, and Lille in the north, including a gas leak and evacuations. Toulouse education authority head Karim Benmiloud describes an extremely violent attack. Separate footage shows a substantial police deployment and evening clashes in Paris.

Parents do not offer a single response to the school protests. Some form human chains to prevent blockades and let students reach lessons. Flore Lawin, representing the FCPE parents' federation, stresses the consequences of losing classroom hours. Other parents argue that adults should support the young demonstrators, making the dispute about solidarity as well as access to education.

The final report follows Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament and co-president of the center-left Place Publique party, through the Paris procession. The broadcaster identifies those booing and confronting him as radical-left activists. His security team escorts him away. Glucksmann responds that hostility from political activists will not deter him from taking part.