According to estimates from French intelligence, the "Block Everything" movement on Wednesday, September 10, could see as many as 100,000 people take part in one form or another. This figure, though still highly uncertain, was calculated based on turnout at preparatory general assemblies held across France throughout the summer and, more intensively, over the past two weeks.

Intelligence services said that the strength of the protest movement will partly depend on how events unfold on September 8 in the Assemblée Nationale, where Prime Minister François Bayrou is set to seek a vote of confidence. "If the government falls, some of those who planned to participate may become demobilized, but the most politicized will come out galvanized," said an Interior Ministry official.

While the scale of the mobilization remains uncertain, its political orientation is not in doubt: "Block Everything," which had no political affiliation at its inception, has largely come under the direction of the radical left. La France Insoumise (LFI) and the Nouveau Parti Anticapitaliste (NPA) are leading the general assemblies, according to intelligence services, which also identified trade union activists (mainly from CGT and Solidaires), pro-Palestinian activists, members of Extinction Rebellion and Soulèvements de la Terre (a climate activist collective). The strongest drive for protest is in traditional left-wing and radical left strongholds, notably the regions of Nantes, Rennes, Toulouse, Lyon and Bordeaux.

You have 51.29% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.