November 5 strike and protests in Lille, France, Digi Mart USA News (Lille, France): The interprofessional union coalition called a day of strikes and mobilization on Thursday, November 5, urging demonstrations “for wages, public services, employment and industry.” Several protests were held on Thursday morning across the region.
In Lille, the procession set off at 2:30 p.m. from Boulevard Denis Papin, near the Porte de Paris.
Around fifty musicians and choristers from the Ch’ti Orchestre, a collective formed for protests against the cost of living, played trumpets, saxophones and flutes before the march began near the Square Jean-Baptiste Lebas.
The Ch’ti Orchestre answered a national call from the Orchestre du nouveau monde in Paris to protest with music. Demonstrations began in the morning in most towns across the Nord and Pas-de-Calais, including Valenciennes, Douai, Saint-Omer, Calais and Dunkirk.
Arras drew 1,400 protesters according to territorial intelligence services, while the CGT union put the figure at 1,700. In Valenciennes, a column of 1,400 marchers proceeded in good spirits and under sunshine, in the presence of Lutte Ouvrière presidential candidate Nathalie Arthaud.
The action follows earlier cost-of-living protests. On Saturday, October 17, yellow vest protesters, high school students and university students called for a national mobilization, with 24,000 people marching in the city according to the prefecture, and acts of vandalism and violent clashes with police reported on the sidelines.
On Saturday, October 24, the second protest in Lille drew 15,000 participants according to the prefecture. A third round took place on Saturday, October 31, with marches in Valenciennes, Maubeuge, Douai and Lille under a large police deployment, and new protests were announced for the region.
