(18 Sep 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paris – 18 September 2025
1. Wide of protesters in Bastille place
2. Various of unionist protesters arriving in Bastille place
3. Wide of union balloons and flags
4. Various of protesters with flags
5. SOUNDBITE (French) Jean Pierre Mercier, Union representative, SUD, Stellantis Poissy (car production factory):
“The current issues for the country are above all the current issues for the working class, for the workers. For decades we’ve been the ones paying for the rich, paying for the billionaires, paying for the capitalists and they’ve emptied our pockets. And today, supposedly, we must repay the debt, and once again it’s only the workers who are asked to pay, whether we’re employed, disabled, or retired. We’re fed up with paying we’ve paid too much already. And now they want us to pay to fill the army’s budget. They passed a law allocating 400 billion euros for the military budget. Meanwhile, hospitals, public schools, their budgets are not increasing. “
6. Various of unionist protesters holding banners, including top one that reads (French) United for more guarantees and for our future, and other reading (French) "No to the closing of Stellantis Poissy"
7. Various of protesters marching
8. Mid of banner reading (French) ‘Equity: Ultra-rich and multinationals, pay your share’
9. SOUNDBITE (French) Marie Vairon, National Secretary of the Solidaires Trade Union Confederation:
“So, in terms of impact, we hope this will really be a very strong mobilization, one that can actually push the government back and make it drop its projects with this budgetary austerity that has truly become unbearable today. We are fighting for a budget that allows us to have quality public services, and also for a fairer distribution of wealth because that’s also what we demand — and much greater equality, particularly between men and women.”
10. Wide of protests
11. Various of riot police
12. Tracking shot of riot police on the move
STORYLINE:
Thousands of demonstrators marched in Paris on Thursday to denounce austerity measures and demand a fairer distribution of wealth.
“The current issues for the country are above all the current issues for the working class,” said Jean-Pierre Mercier, union representative for SUD at Stellantis Poissy, car production factory.
Starting from Place de la Bastille, union balloons and flags floated above banners reading: “Equity: Ultra-rich and multinationals, pay your share.”
“We hope for a very strong mobilization that will push the government back and make it drop its austerity projects, which have become unbearable,” said Marie Vairon, National Secretary of the Solidaires Trade Union Confederation.
Riot police units were deployed on the sidelines of the march.
Protesters hit France with transport strikes, notably hobbling the Paris Metro, demonstrations and traffic slowdowns and blockades Thursday, pitting the power of the streets against President Emmanuel Macron ‘s government and its proposals to cut funding for public services that underpin the French way of life.
Nationwide demonstrations, from France’s biggest cities to small towns, were expected to mobilize hundreds of thousands of marchers, voicing anger about mounting poverty, sharpening inequality and struggles for low-paid workers and others to make ends meet.
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