Before we get to talking about what it was like to witness the alarming “manifestations” – protests – all over France on Saturday October 17th, I wanted to mention a couple of small events that I forgot to describe on a previous post.
On our final cycle into Lyon on Thursday, we rode along a trail that followed the Saone. On the right was the river, on the left were farmers’ fields. About 150 yards ahead of us we could see a young female rider on a horse and knowing from previous experiences that horses are sometimes frightened by the trikes, we both instinctively pulled off the trail well to the right, and in fact, when we noticed the horse start to gallop wildly, its rider obviously struggling to control it, we pulled in behind a tree!
A bunch of things then happened all at once. That horse was in full-out bolt into the field, its eyes wild. At the same time there was a woman walking with her dog along the trail, and it was yapping crazily. The young rider screamed, and then 25′ further she came right off the horse. (Thrown? Chose to jump off? Fell?) The horse instantly stopped, and walked nonchalantly back to the rider. The rider picked herself up and off the mud, dusted herself off – you can bet we were watching all of this anxiously – and all seemed to be well with them, so we rode slowly on.
(It took a few minutes to slow our heart rates, though… and that yappy dog kept yapping.)
Ahead we could see about six young Black Angus calves lined up against a fence watching the whole scene, and, from their mooing, they were distressed about what had just happened. Or am I projecting? I don’t think so, because….
Then, about 100 yards down the bike path, a car that had been driving slowly toward us stopped, the driver’s door opened and a young woman popped out talking to us urgently as well as into her cellphone. “Avez vous vu des vaches?” “Oui!” “Noir?” “Oui!” We were joined by another French cyclist who had seen the whole episode play out, and she filled the farmer in on where her rogue cattle had escaped to. The farmer relayed the information to whomever was on the phone.
Here’s hoping that the horse and the cattle all made it back to their respective barns and there weren’t too many bruises on that poor rider!
That was the excitement for Thursday.
Saturday, we knew, would be a day of unrest. The Lyonnaises were mostly aware of where the “actions” were going to be, and we planned our activities accordingly (and, obviously, respectfully.) We started with a leisurely stroll through Paul Bocuse’s Les Halles. Doesn’t that paella look incredible?
Playing it safe, we opted to walk from Paul Bocuse’s Les Halles to Place Bellecour where we could catch the Hop-on, Hop-off bus. Except on this day they were offering no Hop-off option because of the potential danger to riders from the protests. Police were already setting up vans and personnel on the bridges, but everything was still fairly quiet.
The bus ride around Lyon was really worthwhile, we visited sites we would never have had the time (or foot-power) to see on our own. The bus had an English-language App that was easy to use. We sat up top at the very front. It was cold and damp but …. we didn’t want to miss anything! (It was just us and four Italian women up there…)
I especially love Lyon’s murals. (You can read about the murals municipal project in our previous blog.)
The bus took us up the surprisingly steep hill to the Basilica, and Lugdunum, the Roman ruins and amphitheatre. Like, WAY up.
You can see the Basilica in this shot we took from our hotel room later in the evening. Lyon is really hilly. That Basilica is very high on a very high hill.
After we descended the hill – praying that the bus’s brakes were robust – we drove south along the river to see the modern architecture of the Musée des Confluences. The green building that looks like a pencil sharpener, below, is the Euronews Headquarters (also called the Green Cube or Parallélépipède Vert).
There was a huge farmer’s market along the Saone. No one seemed particularly concerned about the impending manifestations. Yet.
When we pulled back into Place Bellecour we were unable to get off the bus at its scheduled stop because there were emergency vehicles pulling into the street and officers hopping out, wearing riot shields.
We disembarked a little further down the road from the planned stop, and, being risk-averse, sensible tourists, walked in the opposite direction to that activity.
Along the way, I – Patti – was happy to be able to visit a store I have been curious about on my previous two trips to Lyon. “Art-Peaux.” Closed on those other two visits, it was open on Saturday afternoon. Hand crafted, whimsical shoes. Aren’t they pretty? (Didn’t. Probably should have.)
The tiny stores in the neighbourhood had interesting windows.
Crossing the bridge that would take us to our hotel, we encountered some happy students carrying their hand-made posters to the protest.
Pushing on further in the direction of our hotel we could feel the familiar tickle of tear gas in our eyes and throats. (There had also been protests and teargas when we were in Nancy. That’s where we first experienced teargas.) A pedestrian approaching us cautioned us to avoid the street ahead – “Gaz, la bas” – so we cut a wide swath and avoided that area.
Back at the hotel – safe on the 37th floor – we watched these events unfold from our window.
Saturday, October 17th in Lyon, and all across France, was a tumultuous day. ICYMI, here is a summary:
Manifestation: A massive protest by a number of angry and frustrated factions all across France. Little did we know what was coming…
*17 October 2026 refers to a major day of social mobilization and civil unrest in France, initially organized as a convergence of protests against the cost of living, youth education reforms, and climate policies, but which quickly escalated into widespread urban riots.
The day was marked by significant violence, including the incineration of the town hall in Limoges, the sacking of the town halls in Marseille and Lille, the burning and destruction of the Tourism office in Lyon where we had been just that morning, and attacks on public buildings and police forces.
We could see the river of people streaming across bridge onto the peninsula between the Rhone and the Saone increasing in size, at an alarming rate.
There was a white cloud of tear gas above the square where the bus had let us out. That white cloud would soon turn to black smoke because things escalated quickly.
Do you see those figures in black? They’re not students. They’re marauders. Things got ugly.
It was surreal, looking at the images on the television, and looking out our window, knowing what was going on just a 20 minute walk from where we were.
The statue of Paul Bocuse that we had visited on Friday was dragged out of the Tourism building and dumped on the street because the Tourism Building was on fire.
This was the Tourism Building on Friday.
However, in our 37th floor room I had some beautiful white wine that had been suggested by a sales person in Les Halles on Friday (who also corrected my pronunciation of Vin Blanc – LOL) and John had an acceptable Zero Alcohol beer.
Later on, we walked around the corner from the hotel and enjoyed a meal of Vietnamese food. No manifestations in our neighbourhood.
Meanwhile…
The mobilization involved a diverse coalition, including Yellow Vests, students, lyceans, agricultural workers, and trade unions like the CGT, who had called for over 1,500 actions across the country, such as roadblocks and demonstrations.
Key outcomes and statistics from the day include:
Political Fallout: Mayors of Paris, Marseille, and Lyon demanded urgent meetings with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to address the lack of police resources, while the violence became a focal point in the lead-up to the 2027 presidential election.
Massive Police Response: Authorities deployed water cannons, tear gas, and specialized units (CRS 8) to manage the unrest, with Interior Minister Sébastien Lecornu announcing 1,200 arrests and 150 police and gendarmerie injuries nationwide.
High Detention Numbers: The Paris judicial authority reported 517 custody cases (including 171 minors), while Lyon recorded 160 and Limoges 17, with the IGPN (internal affairs) launching investigations into serious injuries, such as a teenager losing a hand to a grenade in Saint-Étienne.
It was a big day. We were happy to have our quiet hotel, well away from the manifestation.
We had one full day left in Lyon – Sunday – and on Monday we were going to jump on a 5:30 a.m. train to Paris to fly home to Toronto.
Speaking of the train – using that early morning train from Lyon was fantastic. It took us directly into Terminal 2 of Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris, arriving at 8:00 am. Our flight departure was about noon, so the timing was perfect, and it saved a very expensive overnight at an airport hotel. In order to easily get to that 5:30 am departure, a couple of weeks previously we had switched our Lyon hotel from a cute downtown location to the Radisson, next to the train station. That was a lucky break. Had we kept our downtown room we would have been right in the middle of the riots and store looting. It would have been a very long and scary night.
More about that in the next blog!