A union chief mentioned {that a} “present of pressure” was essential to safe extra funding
A whole bunch of firefighters have taken to the streets in the French metropolis of Lille, protesting low pay and grueling work situations. Police making an attempt to carry them again had been punched, kicked, and hosed down with fireplace extinguishers.
Round 600 firefighters took half in Thursday’s demonstration, French media reported. After assembling at a hearth station in Lille, they marched to the headquarters of the Departmental Hearth and Rescue Service (SDIS), lighting flares and setting bonfires alongside the route.
Labor unions declare that France’s Nord area is brief greater than 100 firefighters and that these on shift are pressured to deal with double the workload.
Riot police initially dropped their shields and allowed the protesters to strategy the SDIS constructing. Nonetheless, closely armored officers tried to disperse the group after the firefighters trashed the foyer of the constructing and set tire fires outdoors.
The firefighters pushed again towards the police, punching and shoving and forcing them to retreat right into a parking storage. Firefighters sprayed the officers with fireplace extinguishers, and the melee was finally damaged up when the police used tear gasoline and batons on the group.
You are watching hanging firefighters giving the cops a style of their very own drugs in Lille in the present day. Preventing the wealthy. Hosing their assault canine. That is what resistance appears like. pic.twitter.com/xHdSKOPgGm
— GhostofDurruti (@DurrutiRiot) January 29, 2026
The protest achieved its targets. SDIS representatives met with union leaders shortly after the clashes, promising to rent an extra 50 firefighters. “Surprisingly, they discovered a manner to economize and entry the required funding,” a union secretary instructed Ici radio. “It took a present of pressure to get what we wished.”
Thursday’s protest was the most recent in an ongoing collection of strikes, demonstrations, and riots to hit France in latest months. A whole bunch of hundreds took to the streets in September to protest deliberate funds cuts, after Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu’s authorities lasted a mere 14 hours earlier than collapsing. Lecornu shaped a second authorities the next month, which set off one other wave of demonstrations.
French President Emmanuel Macron confronted calls to resign over his failure to nominate a steady authorities, and over his efforts to cross deeply unpopular austerity measures. Following the second spherical of protests in October, his approval ranking fell to a report low of 11%.
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