Several hundred thousand people marched Monday throughout France during a May 1st marked by an inter-union always united against the pension reform, and violence leaving a hundred injured among the police.
The general secretary of the CGT union, Sophie Binet, welcomed a “very strong day which shows the determination to obtain the withdrawal of the pension reform”, and her CFDT counterpart, Laurent Berger, praised “a big May 1st”, a “big mobilization” which “is not a last stand”.
If it was far from the record levels of the end of January, when nearly 1.3 million people had marched according to the Ministry of the Interior, the mobilization during this Labor Day remained strong after 12 days of parades and well at beyond a classic May Day.
The CGT assured that some 550,000 people participated in the Paris demonstration and 2.3 million throughout France. The Ministry of the Interior counted 782,000 demonstrators throughout France, including 112,000 in Paris. They were 94,000 in the capital according to a count by the independent firm Occurrence for a media collective, including AFP.
In Paris, where 5,000 police officers were mobilized, the procession set off at 2:00 p.m., with the announced presence of trade unionists from all over the world.
According to the police, there were 8,700 demonstrators in Strasbourg (15,000 according to the unions), 7,300 in Lille (15,000), 11,000 in Marseille (130,000), 13,500 in Toulouse (100,000) and 14,000 in Clermont-Ferrand (25,000).
Violent clashes erupted in several cities, including Paris, Nantes and Lyon.
A total of 108 members of the police were injured, including one “seriously” in Paris, who had his face and arms burned after a Molotov cocktail was thrown, according to Mr. Darmanin, who specified that 291 people had been arrested in the country, including 90 in the capital.
Shortly before, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne had deemed on Twitter “unacceptable” the “scenes of violence on the sidelines of the processions”.
In Paris, the violence escalated as the pre-cortege arrived at the end of the parade. Hundreds of “black blocks”, including many foreigners, notably used fireworks in direct fire at the police, who responded with a lot of tear gas and defensive grenades.
In Nantes, the clashes lasted a good part of the afternoon, and left 28 injured (4 demonstrators and 24 members of the police). The authorities also reported 40 arrests in Lyon, the scene of significant damage to the route of the demonstration. Incidents also marred the procession in Bordeaux.
In Marseille, some 200 people briefly occupied the Intercontinental hotel, causing damage there, a “symbolic action against the unequal distribution of wealth”.
This May 1, which is the 13th day of inter-union mobilization against the pension reform and was the first unit parade with the eight main unions since 2009 (in the face of the financial crisis), intervened after the validation of the main part of the text by the Constitutional Council and its subsequent promulgation.
If in the street as in the polls the anger remains strong, with concerts of saucepans which accompany the movements of the executive, within the French government some want to believe “that we have spent the most in terms of protest” and that this May 1 “can be the last stand of the interprofessional”.
President Emmanuel Macron gave himself April 17 “a hundred days of appeasement” and “action” to relaunch his five-year term. And differences between the unions are beginning to point to the follow-up to be given to the movement.
In Athens, a delegation of about ten people from the French CGT, invited by the Greek communist union Pame, took part in the procession.
Elsewhere in Europe, demonstrations using the same slogans demanding a better distribution of wealth and wage increases to cope with inflation were organized on the occasion of May Day.
In Berlin, about thirty parades were planned and in Lisbon the two main trade union centers marched together. In Spain, more than 70 processions set off in the main cities of the country.
Elsewhere in Europe, demonstrations using the same slogans demanding a better distribution of wealth and wage increases to cope with inflation were organized on the occasion of May Day.
In Berlin, about thirty parades were planned and in Lisbon the two main trade union centers marched together. In Spain, more than 70 processions set off in the main cities of the country.
