Paris protest route dispute: unions reject police-mandated change

The Paris police prefecture announced a sudden change to the planned protest route for Saturday, shifting it from the Bastille-to-Nation corridor to a course between Porte de Vincennes and Porte d’Italie. The inter-syndicale of Île-de-France, which coordinated the march, rejected the proposal as “unacceptable” and impossible to secure, according to CGT co-secretary Karl Ghazi. In a statement, the coalition - comprising the regional branches of CGT, CFDT, FO, FSU, Solidaires and student groups such as Fage, Union étudiante, Unef and USL - said it would proceed with the original Bastille-Nation path.

Student leader Suzanne Nijdam described the prefecture’s late-stage reversal as “very disrespectful” after a week of route-security planning. The prefecture had previously approved the Bastille-Nation route but barred a separate march by the Interfac student collective and the gilets jaunes that would have run from Bastille to Opéra.