Resigned faces, demonstrators left disappointed – or even a bit thrown off – by how calm the protests were, but the anger remained: The marches held on Thursday, October 2, saw a sharp drop in participation compared to September 18. According to the Interior Ministry, there were less than half as many protesters nationwide (195,000 compared to 505,000 respectively), and strike participation also dropped both in schools (around 6% compared to 17% on September 18, according to the Education Ministry) and in the public sector (4% compared to 11%). In the marches, from Paris to Avignon, from Valenciennes to Lyon, bitterness still outweighed the urge to give up.

"I feel a kind of gloom," admitted Marie, a 58-year-old civil servant working for the City of Paris, who once marched with the Yellow Vest movement (for privacy reasons, only first names are used for those quoted). "We're tired of protesting when it leads nowhere, with the same old slogans... It's depressing. We need other ways to fight. We're in favor of blockades, but who's going to start? Everyone's a bit scared," she said while marching through the capital's streets. "The failure of the protests against the pension reform in 2023 did a lot of damage. Many people are just waiting now, but that doesn't mean they don't still care," said Pierre, a senior official at the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.

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