Fishermen set up a blockade in the Bouches-du-Rhône region at 3 am at an oil depot that covers around 50 tanker lorries, local authorities said.

The action followed protests in Sète and Port-Vendres on 14th September. Increasing fuel and operating expenses, as well as increasing regulatory requirements, are also adding to the problem conditions for fishermen.

They are calling for talks with Fishing Minister Catherine Chabaud.

Around 5,000 cops are set to march down the Champs-Élysées towards the National Assembly after the Alliance Police Nationale union demanded better pay and conditions. The union is looking to have politicians show their support.

It calls for a bonus to be added to the pay scale of riot police and the inclusion of some border police officers as well as adjustments to other bonuses and employment statuses for forensic officers.

It also seeks more compensation and appreciation for those who work in prefectures.

Energy workers

Electricity and gas workers are organising a strike against changes to their preferential energy rate, part of their compensation.

The government is looking to update the long-established staff rate, following the Court of Auditors’ finding that the difference between the rate and the actual cost of energy was too large.

Some 140,000 workers and 160,000 retirees pay the rate. The auditor estimates it costs consumers less than two per cent of their average electricity or gas bills, while labour unions estimate the cost to be in the vicinity of 10 per cent of the average household bill.

Unions hope to have upwards of 80 per cent of workers on strike. The rate is important to the workers, who frequently begin low-wage jobs, they say.

Cuts to education

Staff and researchers at universities are mobilising over the issue of chronic underfunding of public research and higher education, as highlighted by unions.

They are also protesting working and study conditions that are growing more difficult and steps they say would make higher education less available.

A wide range of unions say they are facing a shortage of at least €8 billion in higher education, and a further €8 billion in public research.

Even as Paris and other cities moved on Tuesday, it was viewed as a first step towards a larger national mobilisation on 29 September. Protests coincide with discussion on raising fees and increasing selectivity at universities.

Climate funding

Firefighters and nurse unions, along with environmental and animal protection activists and a feminist group, have set up a protest outside the Economy Ministry on Tuesday evening in order to demand “resources to combat climate change”.

Before the 2027 budget, they are demanding certain emergency measures to be incorporated into the finance bill.

These include a plan to combat extreme heat, taxation on the “biggest polluters” and increased investment in wildfire prevention.