(Paris) The mobilization against the pension reform remained very strong Thursday in France, a week after the passage in force of the government on this text, with a radicalization of the movement which resulted in an increase in violence.
What there is to know
- 3.5 million people demonstrated in more than 300 cities in France;
- This is the ninth national day of mobilization since January 19;
- It comes the day after a television interview with President Emmanuel Macron;
- During this interview, President Macron insisted that the reform should be applied “before the end of the year”, and assumed his “unpopularity”;
- The reform is intended to be a defense of the “general interest” in the face of the financial deterioration of pension funds and the aging of the population;
- France is one of the European countries where this legal age is the lowest, without the systems being completely comparable.
In total, 3.5 million people demonstrated in more than 300 cities in France, according to the CGT union, and 1.08 million according to the Ministry of the Interior.
A massive mobilization for this ninth day of action, but the first since the government used a constitutional provision, article 49.3, to pass the text without a vote on March 16.
Paris recorded a record number of demonstrators and the mobilization is on the rise across the country compared to the eighth day of mobilization on March 15 (480,000 demonstrators), according to the Ministry of the Interior. The unions evoke a level equivalent to the record of March 7.
While according to a source close to the government, the executive hoped that the protest would wither and that everything would be back to normal “this weekend”, the unions have already called for a tenth day of action. Tuesday.
They underlined the “determination of the world of work and youth to obtain the withdrawal of the reform” which notably provides for the postponement of retirement from 62 to 64 years.
The demonstrations, strikes and walkouts “are a response” to the “incomprehensible stubbornness” of the president, the unions stressed, believing that “responsibility for the explosive situation” lay with the government.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said in the evening that 149 gendarmes and police officers had been injured.
He denounced the violence of “thugs” from the “extreme left”. “1,500 thugs” were present in Paris to “break cops and public buildings”, he said. At this stage, there are 172 arrests in France, including 77 in Paris. Many of those arrested are “young”, “many are known” as belonging to the “ultra-left”.
Broken windows
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne deemed “unacceptable” the “violence and degradation” in the demonstrations.
PHOTO DANIEL COLE, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Marseilles, March 23, 2023
Shortly before the departure of the Paris procession, the secretary general of the reformist union CFDT Laurent Berger had noted a “renewed mobilization” and called “for non-violence”.
At his side, his CGT counterpart Philippe Martinez estimated that President Emmanuel Macron had “thrown a can of gasoline on the fire” with his interview the day before, in which he remained inflexible, sometimes sharp, reaffirming “the need of his reform.
In Paris, where the CGT announced 800,000 demonstrators and the ministry 119,000, violence quickly broke out at the head of the procession: cobblestones, bottles and fireworks thrown at the police, broken windows and bus shelters and fires trash cans.
The police headquarters identified “about a thousand” radical elements in the capital, where the situation remained chaotic in the evening, with incidents still in progress.
In Nantes and Rennes (west) too, clashes opposed demonstrators to the police, who used tear gas and water cannons. In Lorient, the police station was targeted.
More or less strong tensions have also been observed in other cities such as Toulouse, Bordeaux (south-west) or Lille (north).
Anger
In the processions, the anger was palpable with a lot of resentment towards the head of state.
Despite the strong unpopularity of the text according to the polls, Mr. Macron insisted on Wednesday that the reform should be applied “before the end of the year”, invoking the defense of “the general interest” in the face of the financial deterioration of the pension funds and the aging of the population.
“I would like to say thank you to Emmanuel Macron. He is so arrogant and next to his pumps that every time he speaks, you only want to take your flag to go on a demonstration, ”explained in Paris Fabien Villedieu, a union delegate .
In Strasbourg (east), Nathalie Cholley, a 47-year-old caregiver, demonstrated to “defend” her future, but also “protest against Emmanuel Macron’s policy and his contempt”.
The parades were marked by a strong participation of young people. A few dozen of the 3,750 French high schools and colleges, and universities were blocked.
“It’s symbolic. We want to show our dissatisfaction with this reform, ”explained Redouane, 23, in front of the Parisian law school of Assas, blocked for the first time since the start of the movement.
“Black Day”
On Thursday, rail transport and the Paris metro were very disrupted. The supply of kerosene to the Paris region and its airports from Normandy (west) “is becoming critical” due to strikes in refineries, the Ministry of Energy Transition told AFP.
The government has already “taken a requisition order” with regard to the strikers at the TotalEnergies refinery in Normandy, which was shut down last weekend and where fuel shipments are blocked.
And more symbolically, for tourists, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe or even the Château de Versailles remained closed.