France: what the separate tallies say about the 5 November protests
The CGT counted protesters in 207 cities. The government separately published strike participation rates for three branches of the public service.
Updated 06.11.2026 · 00:09, Athens time — What changed
Strikes and demonstrations took place in France on 5 November 2026 after a joint union call over pay and the budget. The CGT said it had counted 1,573,000 protesters in 207 cities by 17:30 local time. The figure comes from the union confederation, which helped organise the action.
France’s Ministry for Public Action and Accounts separately reported midday strike participation of 9.89% in the state civil service, 4.60% in local government and 3.93% in the public hospital service. These rates cover strikes in specific branches of the public service and cannot be directly compared with the count of people at demonstrations.
Previous updates — history
Trade unions in France are calling strikes and demonstrations for Thursday, 5 November 2026, seeking pay rises and changes to the 2027 state and social-security budgets.
The confirmed call
In its official 26 October statement, the CGT names the CFDT, CGT, FO, Unsa and FSU as organisations behind the call. On 30 October, it published a separate notice with a map of gatherings. Criticism of living costs, pay and funding for public services is attributed to the unions.
Examples of planned gatherings
The CGT map lists Lyon at 10:30, at the Manufacture des Tabacs, and Lille at 14:30, at the Porte de Paris, for 5 November. Times are local to France, one hour behind Athens.
These details confirm the organisers’ plans. They are not yet a participation count or confirmation of a complete shutdown of transport or services. For a specific journey, travellers need the relevant transport operator’s current information.
English translation of the Greek edition · Read in Greek