Careers on the Line as France Braces for Nationwide Protests

French interior minister Bruno Retailleau has downplayed the likelihood of large-scale demonstrations during a nationwide strike planned for September 10, even as intelligence services warned of disruptive and possibly violent action across the country.

“This instruction to block everything is stupid,” said Retailleau said during a visit to Clermont-Ferrand, central France, today, casting the strike as both unnecessary and harmful.

“Blocking everything is worse than anything else. The country doesn’t need to be blocked. On the contrary, it needs to move forward,” he said.