Hundreds of thousands of French people returned to the streets on Thursday to repudiate the pension reform of the Government of President Emmanuel Macron, in the eleventh great day of protests organized by the unions, which registered a slight decrease in participation and some incidents in Paris.
In the prelude to the final decision of the Constitutional Council (organ of interpretation of the Magna Carta, which on April 14 must validate or not the retirement reform law), the unions were looking for a new show of force after the failure of the meeting held the day before with the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne.
On a day before the Easter holidays, the French authorities assessed the adherence to the march in Paris, the main one in the country, at 57,000 people, a figure raised to 400,000 by the unions.
Nationwide, workers’ organizations counted more than 2 million protesters, while the total offered by the Ministry of the Interior was 570,000.
The participation trend, in any case, is down compared to last week, but without significantly weakening.
“Whatever happens, the mobilization will continue as long as the reform is not withdrawn,” said the new leader of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT, the country’s second central), Sophie Binet, at the beginning of the demonstration organized in Paris.
For his part, the general secretary of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT, the first union), Laurent Berger, stressed that “this movement continues to have the support of the population” and that “the rejection” continues to be “just as strong “.
At the end of the day, in fact, an inter-union meeting agreed on a new day of protests on April 13, the day before the decision of the Constitutional Council.
The protesters agreed on Thursday that the only way out of the crisis is the withdrawal of this reform, which increases the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, something in which the Government has been inflexible.
For the Executive, the measure is essential to guarantee the financial balance of the pension system in the medium term.
“There is no alternative, they must back down, we are right, they are wrong, we are in the majority,” Thomas Vaucouleur, a member of the agricultural section of the CGT union, said at the Paris rally.
For this trade unionist, “there is a strong resentment of the population” against the Government, which is worsening with the police response to the demonstrations, and Macron “lives in the parallel reality of capitalism and big business.”
“At least I think I’m going to die before I retire,” lamented Violette, a 25-year-old student who also criticized the government’s deafness to popular discontent.
Incidents in Paris
In the capital, there were some incidents, especially at the end point of the demonstration, Plaza de Italia, with clashes between the police and protesters.
Some violent groups also attacked the restaurant the roundabout on Montparnasse boulevard, symbolic for Macron, because it was there that he held the first round of the 2017 presidential election, the first he won.
There was also destruction of street furniture and attacks on some businesses and bank branches, in evidence of the growing level of tension in the mobilizations.
Although peaceful in general, they hardened especially after the government’s decision to approve the reform without submitting it to a vote in Parliament on March 16.
The mobilizations this Thursday also resulted in strikes in sectors such as education and public transport, although not as intense as on previous occasions.
In Paris, metro traffic was almost normal and the commuter train saw frequencies partially reduced. As for flights, airports such as Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nantes will cut scheduled routes by 20%, but Parisian Orly, which had been quite affected on other occasions, did not have to cancel trips.
The difficulties due to the strikes also continue in the fuel sector, despite the forced mobilization of workers this week to alleviate the supply problems, a situation that is expected to improve in the coming days.
The Government received a judicial setback in this regard with the decision of a court in Rouen to suspend the obligation to reinstate several workers at the Gonfreville-L’Orcher refinery, of the TotalEnergies group, who were on strike.
Not yet a year after the last presidential elections, this political crisis is translating into a drop in popularity for Macron, who if he were to face far-right Marine Le Pen in elections today, would lose by a wide margin, according to polls.
A barometer published today by the newspaper The echoes reveals that only a quarter of the French say they trust him.
