France has a long protest tradition, from the 1789 Revolution and the 1936 strikes to May 1968, the 1995 strikes, the 2006 anti-CPE movement, the 2018 Yellow V…
Debt, unfair taxes and bread prices drove crowds to storm the Bastille. Feudal privileges fell in August and the monarchy in 1792.
About 2 million workers struck after the Popular Front's victory. They won wage rises, two weeks' paid holiday and the 40-hour week.
Student protests grew into a strike of 7-10 million workers. The minimum wage rose 35%, but de Gaulle won June elections.
Rail and metro strikes against the Juppé plan forced the government to drop changes to public-sector pensions.
It let bosses fire under-26s without reason for two years. After a million-strong march it was replaced on 10 April.
Leaderless drivers blocked roads over fuel tax. The rise was scrapped and minimum earners got €100 a month more.
Fourteen strike days, 1.28 million marchers on 7 March, but 49.3 pushed it through. It was suspended in December 2025.
Up to 800,000 marched; looters hit 3,000 shops and burned Limoges town hall. 2,400 arrests; curfews ordered on 19 Oct.
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