PARIS , France ( CNN ) -- A day of strikes dubbed `` Black Thursday '' in France looked more like `` Gray Thursday , '' with officials reporting a mixed impact across the country . Commuters wait for a train at a metro station in central Paris on `` Black Thursday . '' Union officials said 2.5 million people demonstrated across the country , while the Ministry of the Interior put the number at one million . No arrests or violence were reported , Paris police said . In Paris , all but three lines of the Metro subway system were operating Thursday , the RATP transport authority said . Buses and trains were operating normally with only slight disruptions , the authority said . Suburban trains lines into and around Paris were badly hit . At best , only one in five was operating Thursday , operator RER said . Public transportation workers and other civil servants planned the 36-hour strike over a range of concerns spurred by the world economic crisis . Specifically , workers are anxious about a range of problems , including low salaries , poor buying power and job insecurity . Their collective strike action challenges the way the French government has handled the economic crisis . Unions complain that the government has spent billions to bail out banks and the auto industry while allowing little of that money to filter down to workers . Students , teachers and government workers were striking alongside transportation employees . Under a law introduced last year , schools are required to provide a `` minimum service '' to ensure that children with nowhere else to go during a strike may still be able to go to school . The law does n't require that classes take place -- only that caretakers are provided . Paris municipal authorities said it was difficult for them to ensure a minimum service Thursday because they were not given enough notice for the strike . City officials said a total of 90,000 children in the capital would be affected in some way . The strike began at 8 p.m. ( 2 p.m . ET ) Wednesday and is to end at 8 a.m. ( 2 a.m . ET ) Friday . Union officials plan to meet Monday to consider future strikes , they said . Hospital and postal workers , bank staffers , air traffic controllers and auto workers also walked off the job . Air France said it was operating 100 percent of its long-haul flights . In Paris . the airline said it suspended 30 percent of its short- and medium-haul flights at Orly airport and 10 percent at Charles de Gaulle as a precaution during the strike . The national state-owned railway SNCF said traffic was normal on trains from Paris to other European capitals such as London and Zurich . It said the national high-speed TGV trains were running normally in eastern France , with traffic at 50 percent to 80 percent of normal levels in other parts of the country . -- CNN 's Jim Bittermann and Sujatha Samy contributed to this report .
NEW : French unions say 2.5 million protested government handling of economy . NEW : Government puts figure at about 1 million . Hospital and postal workers , air traffic controllers among those striking . In Paris , most Metro subway lines operating ; buses , trains operating normally .