French interior minister vows tough response to protests planned next week

France's Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau leaves after a weekly cabinet meeting at the Elysée Palace in Paris, on September 3, 2025. LUDOVIC MARIN / AFP

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on Friday, September 5 that he did not anticipate a "large-scale" response to calls for protests next week, but ordered police to "show the utmost firmness" in case of any disorder. A viral campaign has for weeks urged French people to stage a nationwide "shutdown" next Wednesday, two days after the government of Prime Minister François Bayrou faces a confidence vote in Parliament over an austerity budget standoff.

"I don't believe there will be any large-scale movements," Retailleau said, adding that radical-left forces and some unions have backed the anti-government campaign dubbed "Block Everything." "It is very clear that the movement has shifted to the left," he added. "Given the nature of these movements and their radicalism, there may be some spectacular actions."

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'Block Everything': Anger in France is deep, but mass strikes appear unlikely