November 5 nationwide strike in Hauts-de-France, Digi Mart USA News (Hauts-de-France, France): A “black day” was expected across the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region on Thursday, a day of action launched by the intersyndicale union coalition, the yellow vest movement and high school student groups. They are protesting wage cuts, a lack of resources for public services and the rising cost of living.
About ten demonstrations were announced by the intersyndicale and the yellow vests for November 5. The national strike call was widely followed in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, with several disruptions announced for public transport and regional TER trains.
In Arras, Béthune, Douai, Dunkirk and Valenciennes, yellow vests, unions and high school movements organized a series of actions throughout the day. From 9:30 a.m., several hundred demonstrators gathered in Béthune, Maubeuge and Arras.
In Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1,000 protesters turned out on Thursday morning, while 250 people were counted near Saint-Omer. According to Calais la sociale, nearly 1,000 people gathered in front of the Calais city hall.
Several hundred gathered in Maubeuge, and the CGT union reported 1,500 people in the streets of Valenciennes.
The largest mobilization in Hauts-de-France was expected in Lille that afternoon. In the Lille metropolitan area, 80 high school students were maintaining a blockade at the Fénelon high school, with support from students at other schools.
Only staff were allowed to enter.
South of Lille, tensions were more visible. The Faidherbe high school was blockaded, but classes were not canceled and shifted to remote learning at the principal’s decision, who reportedly refused to cancel classes that afternoon.
The road in front of the school was closed due to garbage bins and fires on the roadway. A group of students attempted to reach the Montebello high school before being stopped in front of the Baggio high school.
There, mortar fire was reported. A student had already been detained the previous morning for firing a mortar inside the Baggio school grounds, with no injuries or damage reported.
That morning, masked high school students fired several times from the street toward the school courtyard.
The University of Lille announced on Wednesday, November 4, that it would be unable to open most of its campuses. As a result, the Cité scientifique campus (excluding MDE and the SH1 building), Pont-de-Bois, Roubaix Gare campus, the Tourcoing Arts Plastiques hub, Moulins, the Vieux-Lille site of the IAE and Infocom remained inaccessible on Thursday.
