Dozens of black-clad protesters clashed with police and broke shop windows on the margins of a demonstration when several thousand people took to the streets of Paris to call for wage hikes as high inflation eats away their purchasing power.
11 people were reportedly arrested in Paris on Tuesday, with France's interior ministry saying that approximately 107,000 people followed the call for industrial action from leftwing parties and some unions,
Police say 13,000 demonstrators took to the streets of the French capital.
However, the hardline CGT trade union maintains that 70,000 people took part in Tuesday's march in Paris.
Regional train traffic was cut by about half as several unions called a nationwide strike, seeking to capitalise on anger at decades-high inflation to expand weeks of industrial action at oil refineries to other economic sectors.
As the march got more tense, reporters saw police charge at protesters while footage of hooded, black-clad people breaking shop windows emerged on social media.
🔴 EN DIRECT - Grève du 18 octobre : des casseurs dans le cortège parisien
— LCI (@LCI) October 18, 2022
📺 Le point sur #La26 et https://t.co/ZKaSRhnRoI > https://t.co/A3l0TNjSWT #Greve18Octobre pic.twitter.com/6gg7z8C71q
Strikes threaten key infrastructure
Tuesday's protests, which have been promoted by opposition politicians for weeks, were small compared to those of the yellow vest movement or the opposition to rent reforms during President Emmanuel Macron's first term as president.
But coming in the middle of a Europe-wide energy crisis, the strikes have become the president's stiffest challenge since his re-election in May.
As industrial action at oil major TotalEnergies keeps weighing on petrol supplies for a fourth week with no clear end in sight, the government faces the risk wider walkouts could take down other parts of the infrastructure.
France's national grid operator RTE warned on Tuesday that prolonged strikes delaying the restart of some reactors at nuclear power group EDF could have "heavy consequences" for the country's electricity supplies over the coming winter.
Trade union leaders are hoping workers will be energised by the government's decision to force some of them to go back to work at petrol depots to try and get fuel flowing again, a decision some say put in jeopardy the right to strike.
Meanwhile, Eurostar said it was cancelling some trains between London and Paris due to the strike.
French public railway operator SNCF said that traffic on regional connections was down 50% but national lines had no disruptions.
As tensions rise in the euro zone's second-biggest economy, strikes have spilled over into other parts of the energy sector, including nuclear giant EDF, where maintenance work crucial for Europe's power supply has been delayed.
The strikes are happening as the government is set to pass the 2023 budget using special constitutional powers that would allow it to bypass a vote in parliament.
