France braces for 'high-risk' strike day as up to 700,000 protesters expected

A territorial intelligence report dated Nov. 3 warned that the protests could mark a "new threshold" in violence, particularly in city centers.

The report linked the growing mobilization to repeated calls by labor unions, later joined by young people involved in recent high school protests.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez instructed regional prefects to take measures to prevent unrest and respond to potential disturbances.

Security forces will be deployed in a "powerful," "responsive" and "agile" operation that will include the use of drones.

Authorities have also imposed restrictions on carrying weapons, protective equipment and pyrotechnic devices.

Police will conduct checks along transport routes, including at railway stations, while officers have been authorized to intervene systematically in cases of attacks against people or property.

Nunez also recommended that prefects avoid demonstration routes passing through city centers.

Student protests fuel nationwide mobilization

The planned demonstrations follow days of student protests and school blockades across France.

Thousands of high school and university students gathered Tuesday in Lyon, Marseille, Paris, Bordeaux and Rennes despite demonstration bans in some areas.

Student and youth organizations have called for the protests to continue, while labor unions and the Yellow Vest movement are preparing for Thursday's nationwide strikes and demonstrations.

Labor Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou told lawmakers that he hoped to make announcements around the mobilization aimed at restarting wage growth in France.