Just as the opponents of Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform planned, the actions on December 5 have kick-started the biggest wave of strikes and street mobilization France has seen in more than a decade. Over the last week and a half, railways across the country and public transport in Paris and its environs have remained at a standstill.

Although only these two sectors have gone on indefinite strike, other workers have also taken strike action in significant numbers for one day or more. Education, oil refinery, and energy workers have taken action just like firefighters, dockers, and health workers — on December 5, no less than 3,500 private-sector workplaces were affected by strikes or work stoppages.

Both on that first day of action and on December 10, hundreds of thousands took to the streets (1.5 million on the fifth and 800,000 on the tenth), displaying their strong will to fight. Students also joined the demonstrations, although the mobilization has been uneven and discontinuous across different campuses.