The French intelligence services are warning that next week’s Bloquons Tout mobilisation, set to start on 10 September, could dwarf the chaos of the gilets jaunes protests of 2018 to 2020. Up to 100,000 people are expected to join the ‘Block Everything’ campaign against a €44 billion austerity plan, undeterred by the near-certain collapse of François Bayrou’s government. Motorway blockades, refinery occupations, fuel depot seizures, and targeted strikes to cripple logistics hubs threaten nationwide paralysis. Police have identified 40 coordinated actions, with Marseille, Toulouse and Lyon flagged as flashpoints.
The gilets jaunes occupied roundabouts and negotiated concessions. Bloquons Tout is thriving on digital anonymity and potential chaos
Bloquons Tout signals a transformation in how France takes to the streets. The gilets jaunes occupied roundabouts and negotiated concessions. Bloquons Tout is thriving on digital anonymity and potential chaos. It has no leaders, no symbols, no negotiators. It’s part classic French strike, with unions planning refinery shutdowns and rail walkouts, and part Extinction Rebellion-style direct action, using decentralised tactics. The movement plans flash blockades, rolling disruptions, and is sharing instructions via encrypted Telegram channels. Intelligence officials warn this leaderless structure makes it unpredictable and potentially uncontrollable.
A confidential report leaked this week to Le Parisien warns of risks to critical infrastructure, including sabotage at depots and motorway junctions. Riot police are being redeployed pre-emptively to secure sensitive sites. At the interior ministry in Paris, crisis meetings are underway.
I’ve been trawling the encrypted Telegram channels where Bloquons Tout is organising. Thousands discussing the logistics. Maps mark refineries, depots, and roundabouts for occupation. Videos teach people to bypass toll barriers and jam traffic. Posts share tactics for makeshift barricades and call to boycott digital payments – ‘use cash, choke the banks’. All aspects of the protests are discussed. There’s coordination and discussion of how to feed protestors. Advice to students as to how to barricade their schools and what to do if arrested. All interspersed with memes mocking Macron. Regional Telegram groups coordinate local disruption while cross-posting to national channels. Unlike traditional protests, this is built for rapid, networked escalation.
Unions meanwhile are scrambling to catch up. Sud-Rail and other rail unions have aligned themselves with the 10 September action, planning to shut down long-distance rail services. The CGT has called for refinery and port blockades, while Solidaires has pledged support. The largest federations, CFDT, FO, UNSA are holding back until 18 September, when eight major unions plan a coordinated ‘day of action’. Intelligence officials warn that this sequencing, chaotic action first, structured strikes later, could amplify rather than contain unrest.
Politically, the timing of the protests is disastrous for President Macron. Though driven by anti-austerity anger, its anti-Macron message draws support from all opposition parties, from La France Insoumise to the National Rally. On 8 September, François Bayrou’s government is expected to fall in a confidence vote on his €44 billion austerity plan. The budget, which includes cuts to pensions, local funding, and even two national holidays, has united the opposition. Olivier Faure of the Socialist party has declared their opposition ‘irrevocable’, while La France Insoumise and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally are lining up to bring Bayrou down. Polls last weekend put the National Rally at 31 per cent, Macron’s Renaissance at 14 per cent, Mélenchon’s LFI at 18 per cent, and the Socialists at 12 per cent.
The markets meanwhile are jittery. France’s public debt has hit €3.35 trillion, and the deficit remains stubbornly above the EU’s 3 per cent ceiling. Borrowing costs are rising, and the ratings agencies are expected to downgrade French debt. Macron may well be caught between the barricades and the bond markets.
France’s protest culture has changed dramatically since the heady days of May 1968, when students and workers unleashed a wave of creative chaos. Those were the days of barricades in the Latin Quarter, factory occupations and poetic slogans scrawled on walls. Protests were coordinated through unions and student groups. There were posters, pamphlets, and word-of-mouth. Today, encrypted apps organise flash blockades, and leaderless networks evade the riot shields and batons of old. The tools of protest have changed, making modern revolt faster to ignite, harder to predict, and more elusive for the state to control. What hasn’t changed is the raw fury against authority.
Despite the warnings from France’s intelligence services, it’s far from certain this revolt can sustain momentum. The same decentralisation that makes it potent could make it fragile. If turnout disappoints, or the unions hold back, the movement could fizzle quickly. However the coming week plays out, Bloquons Tout heralds a shift in French protest movements. A leaderless, digitally fuelled revolt that thrives on chaos, shuns negotiation, and rewrites the rules of protest. This movement could not only paralyse France, but could inspire copycat protests elsewhere.
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