From the United States to India, via our Spanish or German neighbors, the foreign press explains, tells, and analyzes the French mobilizations against the pension reform.
While the inter-union calls for a tenth day of mobilization against the pension reform throughout France, Tuesday March 28, the foreign media are watching the social movement carefully.
>> Follow the latest information related to the pension reform in our live
For a little over a week and the use of article 49.3 by the government, on March 16, to have the pension reform adopted in the Assembly, the challenge has hardened. The violence between the police and the demonstrators escalated further this weekend in Sainte-Soline, in Deux-Sèvres, where violent clashes took place around a “mega-basin” project. . Between careful monitoring of developments in the mobilization, concerns about police violence and analysis of Emmanuel Macron’s position, foreign newspapers are following this French social spring with attention.
A protest that has “changed its face”
For many observers, like the New York Times (in English, article reserved for subscribers)events “have changed their face in the last week”. “In some cities, they have become more violent”underlines the American newspaper on March 24. “Fury” of the participants is less about the postponement of the legal age to 64 than about the “how Emmanuel Macron passed the law in Parliament”and the challenge could turn into “a constitutional crisis”, says the newspaper.
In Spain, the centre-left daily El País (in Spanish, article reserved for subscribers)also analyzes that the claims “is no longer just about pensions. It’s about democracy, a democracy that protesters say has been shaken by the passing [du texte via le] 49.3”, writes, on March 26, the correspondent of the newspaper in Paris, wondering if the movement will continue in the spring or, on the contrary, will end up running out of steam. The Spanish daily also thinks it has found the symbol of this social movement: “In France, each revolt invents its own icon. There was the guillotine, the cobblestones of 1968, the yellow vests a few years ago. years”, lists El País.
The dispute against [le recul] of retirement age has found its icon: a heap of rubbish on fire in the streets of Paris, the gate of a town hall in Bordeaux in flames, a fire that fascinates and destroys.
Finally, while the opponents of the reform parade for the tenth time in the streets of Paris since the beginning of the movement, the Indian daily The Indian Express (in English) wonders, on March 24: “How to understand the ‘penchant for demonstration’ of the French?” Journalist Arjun Sengupta offers the beginning of an explanation with “perpetual political effervescence”which would be “one of the cornerstones of (…) French society”.
Concerns over police brutality
Police violence is another subject of concern for the foreign media, while clashes have marred several processions for a week. “Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take part in demonstrations on Tuesday (…) throughout France (…). The authorities in Paris and several cities are prepared for clashes between the police and the demonstrators”, writes the British centre-left daily The Guardian (in English)March 28. “The crisis escalated due to controversy over police tactics, with lawyers complaining of arbitrary arrests, injuries and brutality during crowd control,” adds the log.
In the United States, the washington post (in English, article reserved for subscribers) also relays the accusations of use by the police of a “excessive force” during “demonstrations”. “Protesters (…) have destroyed cars and buildings, torched rubbish and newsstands and clashed with law enforcement in cities like Paris and Bordeaux in recent days. But the response (…) apparently police blind including [via des] arbitrary arrests and the use of violence against peaceful demonstrators and journalists, has also drawn attention”, writes the newspaper, echoing the concerns of the Council of Europe about the French demonstrations. These concerns are also relayed by the Qatari channel Al Jazeera (in Arabic)one of the most watched in the Arabic-speaking world.
This violence has similarly moved our German and Italian neighbours, the newspaper noted on March 28. International mail. The clashes that occurred in Sainte-Soline left a lasting impression. “VShe western corner of France has become a magnet for professional thugs”, pings the right-wing daily Il Giornale (in Italian). For his part, the Berliner Die Tageszeitung (in German) believes that the clashes were “inevitable” due to the huge police force “who was waiting for the demonstrators in front of the construction site”.
Emmanuel Macron “humiliated” by the protest
European journalists and editorial writers are not always kind to the head of state, not failing to return to the forced postponement of the visit of King Charles III because of the demonstrations. “ The Élysée Palace tried in vain to put on a good face, the announcement of the postponement of the visit of the British sovereign to France sends back the image of a capitulation in the open countryside and constitutes a serious snub for Emmanuel Macron”, estimates on March 24 the newspaper The Free Belgiumwho smells in the air a “scent of humiliation”. “Macron ‘humiliated’ by the postponement of the visit of King Charles III, as France prepares for new violence”, headlined the British daily The Telegraph (in English)March 25. “By canceling the trip, the president has for the first time acknowledged that the country is dancing on a volcano.” reports the newspaper, citing “an opposition leader”.
The most scathing comments on the current crisis have come from Russia, where the press seems to want to make the French president pay for his support for Ukraine in the face of the invasion decided by Moscow. There Pravda (in Russian) did not hesitate to relay the controversy around the watch that Emmanuel Macron quietly withdrew during his television interview on March 23. On a state television channel, a journalist finally “called Emmanuel Macron a ‘Nazi’ and called on him to resign, telling viewers that Russia is the only country where freedom and respect for human rights reign”relayed on March 27 a British journalist from the BBC, Francis Scarr, on Twitter.