I don’t even know where to start. There are strikes and demonstrations for everything in Paris. This week, for example, there are 12 demonstrations scheduled in Paris, according to a local events listing website. (I had to note that they said that for Monday “to the best of our knowledge there is no demonstration scheduled for this day.”) I would advise anyone living here or travelling here to check the news for upcoming strikes and demonstrations that will affect services and traffic. I wish I followed that myself. I am often caught unaware. Today, I had at least a few hours warning. John told me at around noon that the school bus driver said she probably wouldn’t be able to get Elizabeth home this afternoon due to a demonstration by the French national trade union going on in our neighborhood. I really didn’t want to have to travel clear across town to pick her up and then come all the way back, so I waited to see if it would turn into anything.
At 12:30, I left to meet a friend for lunch and saw at least 20 police vehicles parked along the street on the block of our apartment. At 2:45, I came back from the grocery store and saw even more vehicles and heavily armed police officers making preparations all down the street. One of the preparations was setting up barriers. I realized there was no way the school bus would get anywhere near our house and that traffic would be gridlocked all around town. I asked one of the officers when the demonstration was supposed to start and he said 3:00. I ran upstairs, dropped off the groceries, and ran back down to catch the last bus that would get down the street before the street was closed off entirely.
Elizabeth and I took the metro home to avoid gridlock. Walking home from the metro station, we saw that the streets were, indeed, blocked off. Each street corner was manned by several armed officers and the street was blocked by police vehicles and barricades. We had to pass through two such barriers. They let us through when we told them that we lived there. I later heard that they normally asked for ID, but with the kid in a school uniform and a mom in an ankle brace, they must have not worried about it.
Protests tend to take place in one of a few destinations. Conservative protests are traditionally held on the Right Bank (of the River Seine). Liberal protests are held on the Left Bank. We live in the main area for Left Bank protests. They tend to come right down our street, in fact, probably about once a month. Another area is in our old neighborhood, near the Eiffel Tower and Invalides. We saw several protests there in just two months.
A third area is Montparnasse, which is a hub for the public buses. When there is a demonstration at Montparnasse (as well as anywhere else), the buses just stop running through the area. You’ll be on the bus and the driver will announce that you are at the last stop and you have to get off. This can happen at the most inconvenient locations—not near another bus line or metro stop.
The Right Bank area is around the Arc de Triomphe and Avenue Champs-Elysees, where the president lives. We got stuck in the crowds at a protest in this area a couple of weeks ago coming and going from a kid’s birthday party. It was a Sunday afternoon and the metro was so packed that we couldn’t even make it onto the first train. We were totally squished the entire way and had to push an old lady out of the way to get out at our stop (sorry!). The way back from the party was even worse. It was a rightwing protest against gay marriage. The metro was packed with families with small children and adults with rolled up signs showing a man, a woman, and two children holding hands in stick figures. It was all I could do to keep my mouth shut to not provoke the intolerant religious fanatics. I knew that the protest had gotten out of hand when a French lady asked me how to translate “tear gas” into English. Sure enough, the extremists had jumped the police barriers on the Champs-Elysees, heading for the president’s house. The police had to fire off tear gas and arrest several people. Several police had been wounded by the violent protesters too. I think that is why today’s protest had so many armed police.
In addition to the protests, there are many strikes in Paris. The common approach seems to be to have a 1-day strike. (When we lived here 17 years ago that was not the case. The metro workers were on strike for about a month!) The teachers have gone on strike twice this year and the children get the day off from school. (Elizabeth goes to a private school so she hasn’t been so lucky.) One of those times we found out that the gym where Elizabeth takes a rollerblading class was closed too. I’m not sure of the connection, but we happened to learn by chance to save us a trip across town.
To give an idea of just how many strikes we are talking about, let’s look at one month. In January of this year, employees at Radio France went on strike on the 7th, the taxi drivers on the 10th, teachers on the 22nd (the second time this school year), and French public servants as well as air traffic control workers on January 31st (again on April 4th). Each of these strikes was hugely disruptive. I’ve never heard a French person complain about a strike though. They may be annoyed, but they plan around it or just don’t get something done that day that can’t be done. It’s a way of life, just like when it snows.
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