Labor unions in Lyon, France, are planning a demonstration Tuesday, March 3, to protest recent attacks targeting union offices and members, amid heightened tensions following the death of a right-wing activist. The planned rally comes as authorities investigate a series of incidents that unions say are intended to intimidate them.
The CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires, Unsa, CNT-SO and CNT du Rhône unions announced the inter-union gathering, scheduled for 12:30 p.m. At Place Guichard. In a joint statement, the groups “denounce the attack with an iron bar on the Union Départementale Solidaires Rhône premises during the night of February 14 to 15, 2026, as well as the bomb threat against the CGT Ville de Lyon offices received on February 21, 2026.”
According to Solidaires Rhône, an individual with a concealed face “came to violently strike the entrance to our union office with an iron bar” during the night of February 14-15. The office address is publicly known, and while the attacker failed to enter the building, the union reported prior, minor vandalism in late October, for which they filed a police complaint. They intend to file another report regarding the recent attack, though they expressed skepticism about the outcome given “the climate of impunity in Lyon.”
Context of Rising Tensions
The unions also pointed to a specific context surrounding the incidents, alleging that the far-right collective Némésis has been engaged in “denunciation, calumny, and political instrumentalization” since February 19. Solidaires stated that Alice Cordier, a spokesperson for Némésis, “publicly named our organization on CNews Thursday evening, wrongly and without any proof associating it with the violence that caused the death of a far-right activist.”
The events unfold following the death of Quentin Deranque during an altercation near a conference featuring Rima Hassan at Sciences Po Lyon. Solidaires believes these actions “designate us as targets for the entire far-right sphere. It seems to have worked.”
The inter-union group also referenced “fallacious associations suggested by the far-right after the violence that led to the tragic death of a nationalist activist,” adding that the threat received by the CGT Ville de Lyon was “claimed by individuals openly on the far-right.” These individuals, they say, view the attacks as “examples of the will to put pressure on trade union organizations.”
The unions emphasized that “the defense of trade union freedoms, freedom of expression, opposition and protest is fundamental to our organizations” and that they “will continue to be mobilized to defend trade union rights and freedoms and to denounce strategies of intimidation against them.”
Solidaires characterized the nighttime attack on a union office as “methods that are frankly fascist.” The group added, “Unions do not disappear without resisting, without fighting.”
In addition to the March 3 rally at the Bourse du travail, a “large antiracist and antifascist march” is planned for March 14 at 2:30 p.m. At Bellecour, three weeks after a march organized by the far-right in Lyon in tribute to Quentin Deranque.
