A participation of 100,000 to 150,000 people is expected on Wednesday in the various processions organized in France, including in Paris, for a mobilization which promises to be more traditional this year.
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A May 1st that becomes traditional again. After the sacred union against pension reform in 2023, a mobilization in the form of a “third round” of the presidential election in 2022 and years disrupted by the Covid epidemic, the unions are returning to their habits. Wednesday May 1, the parades are organized without broad unity, with scattered slogans, “against austerity”for peace, or even a Europe “more protective”.
A participation of 100,000 to 150,000 people is expected in the various processions organized in France, including in Paris, franceinfo learned on Tuesday April 30 from a source close to the Ministry of the Interior. “We are not considering a major mobilization. There is no salient slogan,” continues this source.
Ultra-right demonstrators are expected. Just like the ultra-left, in particular in Rennes, Nantes, Lyon, Toulouse and Grenoble. In Paris, the procession must set off at 2 p.m. from Place de la République towards Place de la Nation. In a fairly broad unity, since the CFDT and Unsa will be with the CGT, FSU and Solidaires.
Pro-Palestinian demands and against the Olympics
Three particularities are still present this year: pro-Palestinian movements can join the processions and slogans against the Olympic Games can appear, to denounce the holding of the Olympics in unacceptable conditions and with mobilized civil servants who are not paid enough. In addition, some farmers can organize targeted actions, because their protest movement has not died out, underlines the source close to the Ministry of the Interior.
In 2023, the eight main unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires, FSU) marched together, something unheard of for almost fifteen years. The mobilization, in the form of the 13th inter-union day against pension reform, went well beyond a classic May 1st. During a day marked by sometimes violent clashes, the police counted nearly 800,000 demonstrators, compared to some 116,000 in 2022 and around 130,000, on average, in previous years. For its part, the CGT had identified 2.3 million demonstrators in 2023, compared to 210,000 in 2022.