The “Block Everything” takes France by storm
The day after the resignation of Prime Minister François Bayrou, Emmanuel Macron’s government is facing major opposition in the form of the “Bloquons tout”, (“Let’s Block Everything”) movement, which took to the streets across France on Wednesday 10 September. Crowds chanting “Macron resign” demonstrated in several French cities on Wednesday, during a long-planned day of disruption aiming to revive the gilets jaunes phenomenon.
Launched in November 2018, just over a year after Emmanuel Macron’s election, the movement initially protested the rise in fuel prices, but later expanded its demands and disrupted the president’s first term due to its duration and significant mobilisation. This time, the movement is called “Bloquons tout”, but the demands remain multiple: purchasing power, social justice, democratic denial, and France’s stance on Gaza.
The goal is to express a general sense of exasperation with a government accused of turning a deaf ear and ignoring growing public dissatisfaction. On 21 May, a discreet anti-EU Telegram group called “Les Essentiels France” issued a call to mobilise. “On 10 September, we stop everything, not to run away, but to say no,” reads the collective’s channel.
Some French observers and media claim the group is linked to far-right and conspiracy-minded circles. Initially, the idea did not attract much attention. Two months later, former Prime Minister François Bayrou proposed the elimination of two public holidays during the presentation of the 2026 budget plan – a very unpopular measure. Soon the idea of a day of disruption had spread beyond the confines of the small Telegram group.
Between late July and mid-August, more than 338,000 tweets mentioned the movement, 70 per cent more than at the start of the Yellow Vests, according to the newspaper La Dépêche. It was also through social media that Marie Pontnau learned about the demonstration. A few metres from the noisy megaphones at the front of the march, she sheltered from a fine rain that veiled the crowd in Bordeaux, in south-western France.
“The government prefers to eliminate public holidays and cut public service budgets rather than consider the Zucman tax. Enough is enough,” said the former teacher, now working in community activities. Regularly debated but categorically rejected so far by the executive, this tax, named after the economist Gabriel Zucman, proposes a 2 per cent levy on the wealth of the ultra-rich, which would affect a few thousand people in the highest estimates.
The public anger of the French, particularly attached to their public holidays, may have cost Bayrou his mandate. On Monday, 8 September, he sought a vote of confidence in the National Assembly. With 194 votes in favour and 364 against his policies, he was forced to tender his resignation to Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday morning – a first in the Fifth Republic’s 68 year history.
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In the wake of this, the French president appointed a new Prime Minister: Sébastien Lecornu, a minister continuously in office since 2017, most recently at the Defense Ministry. “We’ve already tried Macronism many times, and he gives us the same thing but worse. We’ve only had right-wing Prime Ministers despite the left winning the last elections”, complained Marie Pontnau, her voice sharp. A rushed appointment that raises questions among the marchers.
With a loudspeaker in hand, Ulysse (who chose not to disclose his surname) is an activist in the far-left collective Révolution Permanente. “The appointment of Sébastien Lecornu, former Minister of the Armed Forces, is a spit in the face of the demonstrators. It shows that our republic is based on maintaining order at all costs, which only strengthens our determination to get rid of this government,” said the 19-year-old.
While condemning policies that exacerbate youth precariousness, he also insists that his collective aims to protest the French government’s foreign policy. “There is a very strong anger among young people towards Macron. He’s not just the one repressing us and dismantling public services, but also complicit in a genocide in the Middle East. France today is selling military components to Israel, which is massacring Palestinians,” said the activist, wearing a red keffiyeh on his head.
According to a Mediapart article published on 4 September 2025, French arms exports to Israel reached an eight-year high in 2024, amounting to €21 million. Among the dense crowd, many young people came to swell the ranks of the march. Anti-government placard in one hand, umbrella in the other, Esther Duthil protested the loss of her grants “due to ever-stricter criteria”.
“I no longer qualify for the same aid as before, and my parents, abroad, cannot help me financially. I pay my rent with my savings, and working while doing a literary preparatory course is impossible,” the young student said, also mentioning to the substandard housing of several of her friends in state-linked university residences. While new profiles join the “Bloquons tout” movement five years after the gilets jaunes, others have become accustomed to converging on these demonstrations.
Wearing a yellow vest on his shoulders, Daniel Prieto and his wife Yolande, both retirees, had stopped even noticing the firecrackers exploding a few meters away. “I’m privileged with a good pension, but I am radically opposed to the current political system,” said the 87-year-old retiree, who had previously marched five years ago or more recently against a controversial pension reform. “Macron was elected against Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, yet he favoured it. I don’t remember ever voting for a candidate, just often against another,”
“There are as many people as during the gilets jaunes, but there are far more police because they know how to handle demonstrations now,” added his wife, Yolande. For 10 September, approximately 80,000 police officers were deployed across France. By midday, 300 arrests had occurred nationwide. For Anthony, an SNCF railway worker in one of Paris’s many marches, the massive law enforcement deployment demonstrates the executive’s fear of this new social movement.
He hoped that these demonstrations will bring together many workers and mobilise people for another planned day of disruption on 18 September, organised by a coalition of several left-wing unions. “There’s a spark,” Anthony enthused. “Now we have to feed the fuse; the strike must settle in and block the country.”
[See also: Don’t tell Emmanuel Macron – but he’s a normal politician now]
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