What is the "Block Everything" movement that calls for a "total shutdown of the country" starting September 10?

A new "act" by the Yellow Vests? Nearly seven years after the citizen protest movement that partially paralyzed France, between road blockades and national calls for demonstrations, a new online mobilization is being prepared. Dubbed "Block Everything!", it presents itself, at least in its current form, as a response to the budgetary tightening announced by Prime Minister François Bayrou on July 15 – with the key measure being the elimination of two public holidays . In response, the movement aims to implement "a total and unlimited shutdown of the country" starting September 10.

Among the social media posts identified by CheckNews , the first mentioning the date of September 10 actually predates the presentation of Bayrou's plan, since it was posted online on July 14 – while the Prime Minister spoke on the 15th. This content comes from the TikTok account of Les Essentiels, an organization advocating for "a sovereign France." In the video, September 10 is presented as "the day France stops," when the country "confines itself, not out of fear of a virus, but by the will of a people who say stop to injustices, stop to abuses, stop to this system that crushes humans to feed profits." And on the Les Essentiels website , a "user guide" is offered, suggesting "limiting consumption to the essentials," "paying only in cash," or "turning off the television," starting September 10.

The call gained momentum online when it was shared by former figures of the Yellow Vests. On the night of July 14-15—still ahead of Bayrou's announcements—Anaïs Albertini, who had taken part in the demonstrations at the time, was the first, on her Facebook account , to "respond to the call of September 10, 11, 12, or even later. " "Our only power is a total boycott," she proclaimed. On July 15, Anaïs Albertini posted another Facebook post containing a "national call for solidarity from the people for a general and unlimited total shutdown of the country starting September 10, 2025."

Then, on July 17, it was she again who shared, on the same platform, a leaflet, on a blue background, intended to allow the "people" to unite. In her publications, she assures that she is simply relaying the call, and refuses to take responsibility for the movement. Contacted by CheckNews, she did not respond, but in a Facebook live broadcast on Tuesday , she explains: "There are many who wonder who made the leaflet [...]. We will not give any source [...] All I can tell you is that there is no political party or union involved in it. It is people like us, citizens of this country who launched the call."

A new step in the structuring of the movement was taken on July 19 with the creation of a website, "mobilisation10septembre.blog" , then an account on X the following day, which already has more than 1,000 subscribers.

On this site, which proposes to say "stop austerity, Bayrou," a link to a national Telegram group dedicated to organizing the September 10th protest was created this Wednesday. Specifically, three modalities are cited. The first: boycott ("we stop making their system work") , including "no longer buying from supermarkets that benefit from reduced contributions and public aid, while squeezing employees (Carrefour, Auchan, Amazon, etc.)" but also "withdrawing money from large banks that are complicit in speculation and the policy of social destruction" to "place it in cooperative or local banks." Then, civil disobedience through "the peaceful occupation of symbolic places" such as prefectures or town halls, targeted blockades, or "active support for those who disobey." Finally, there is "citizen solidarity" aimed, for example, at setting up strike funds, "opening spaces for discussion and coordination in each neighborhood, each village" or even "connecting struggles."

These modes of action are very much inspired by what's happening on the left. But the initiative is also being widely relayed online by user accounts clearly from the far right and the fachosphere. The first 28 subscriptions of the X account linked to the movement's website are also full of figures or channels from the sphere evolving at the intersection of the far right and conspiracy theories. Like journalist Myriam Palomba, close to Florian Philippot seen on Hanouna's blog and who spreads the most hardcore conspiracy theories online. Or the "reinformation" account of the identitarian (and pro-Kremlin conspiracy) movement "Nice Provence info."

According to L'Humanité, which spoke with the creator of the online platform , the latter, who presents himself as a 37-year-old employee working at Enedis, indicates that the movement "accepts being supported by everyone regardless of party. We are outside of politics. All we want is to fight against François Bayrou's plan and bring everyone together regardless of political differences." The same refrain is echoed by Anaïs Albertini, who insists in her Facebook live on the fact of being completely "non-partisan" and who regrets that "they are absolutely trying to label us."

But on the site's homepage, only one tweet stands out. Rather neutral, although supportive of the initiative, it comes from the account "Au bon touite français," which disseminates conspiracy-themed disinformation and far-right propaganda to its 133,000 followers. As on Monday, July 21, for example, when it explained that the "fundamental pillars for the destruction of Western societies" include "mass immigration" and "wokeism," citing a Canadian QAnon influencer obsessed with a supposed "cabal of satanic pedophiles."

The site's creator responded to Le Parisien , who asked him about this publication being highlighted: "This tweet ended up there because it was one of the first to be relayed. It is neither a member of the collective, nor a statement of position. We must stop politicizing everything."

At the other end of the political spectrum, account X, titled "Front Populaire-LFI," also made a post, which mentioned a "national mobilization to strike and demonstrate against Macron's policies on September 10." But this is a news account run by activists , not the official account maintained by the party. It remains to be seen whether this new attempt to revive the Yellow Vest movement will be able to make it from the web to the streets.