With this first major trip since the promulgation of the pension reform, Emmanuel Macron wanted to address reindustrialization in the Bas-Rhin, but the day was punctuated by a concert of saucepans.
In Muttersholtz (Bas-Rhin), during these two hours of visit Wednesday, April 19 at the Mathis factory, Emmanuel Macron probably did not hear the cries, the sound of saucepans and whistles that rained down in the ranks of a few dozen demonstrators. Arrived in front of the town hall of Sélestat, the president then tried to dialogue, again, under the boos.
>> Emmanuel Macron assures that he will continue to move despite “the anger that is expressed”
Emmanuel Macron still had a sentence for these protesters of a new kind. “It’s not saucepans that will move France forward”, launched the president. A desire to move on? Chloé Bourguignon, secretary general of the regional union UNSA Grand-Est, sees this as a new mark of contempt. “Today, the person who is preventing France from moving forward is him. In this case, it is showing great contempt to utter this type of sentence, particularly after all the provocative messages that ‘he sent in the last few weeks.”
“100 days of big trouble”
Chloé Bourguignon returns to the choice of the saucepan as the object of contestation. “Discontent is nice. The saucepan is a small symbol that is used all over the world, in this case just to make a little noise. The only thing that does not move the country forward is that is the president and his posture.”
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If the day passed without physical violence, the demonstrators seem more and more reassembled against the person of Emmanuel Macron, more now than against the pension reform. The Strasbourg collective “We won’t die at work” promises him 100 days of hardship.
“Do you know what’s coming soon? There’s Roland-Garros, the Tour de France, lots of upcoming events that make France so prestigious. We’re going to show them that we can ruin everything, we can cancel everything .”
A member of the collective “We will not die at work”on franceinfo
“We call on everyone to organize themselves. There are 100 days of resilience, right? Well, we are going to promise Emmanuel Macron 100 days of big trouble, launches a member of the collective with a megaphone. Now, there is nothing more that will pass. It is necessary that everywhere in France, we can welcome any deputy, any macronist with the honors. The President of the Republic makes a new trip to Hérault on Thursday.
Emmanuel Macron heckled during his trip to Bas-Rhin – Report by Alain Gastal
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