" Neither god, nor king, nor 49-3 ". Retirees, casual shirts, teachers, students ... Several hundred people gathered at Place de la République in Paris this Monday at the end of the day. The demonstrators were mobilized against the pension reform - and the use of 49-3 - at the call of the inter-union.
Read also: Pensions: what will happen after the announcement of 49-3?
An intersyndicale - made up of unions CFE-CGC, CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires, FIDL, MNL, Unef, UNL- was indeed held in emergency this Monday morning, two days after the announcement by Edouard Philippe of the use of 49-3. The Prime Minister thus engaged the responsibility of the government before the deputies, in order to pass the pension reform without a vote. Furious, the unions decided to take to the streets on Monday.
Between 300 and 400 people flocked to Place de la République, according to our journalist on the spot, Guillaume Poingt. Many flags of the CGT and the NPA were visible.
On the signs held up by the demonstrators, one could read several references to article 49-3 of the Constitution: " At 49.3, we answer 1789 ", " Neither God, nor king, nor 49.3 ", " Strike, blocking, demonstr wild! ". Present on the spot, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of rebellious France, and Adrien Quatennens, went to meet the demonstrators.
Part of the participants left the rally to set off for a wild demonstration in the surrounding streets, overturning trash cans or scooters and obstructing traffic, chanting " Standing Paris, rise up ".
Demonstrations also took place in other French cities - gathering several thousand people according to AFP journalists - such as in Le Mans or Bordeaux where a hundred people demonstrated in the city center, according to a journalist on the spot. Hooded individuals threw chairs inside a McDonald's restaurant and then tried to break the windows of the establishment.
A demonstration brought together a few hundred people in Marseille, including a good hundred lawyers outside the prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône. In Montpellier, the demonstrators, including many "yellow vests", were more than a thousand gathered in front of the offices of the pension fund, before setting off in the city center. 900 people, according to the police (1,000 according to the CGT), were present in Nantes and some 200 people gathered in front of the town hall of Le Havre, noted AFP journalists. Between 100 and 200 people have also mobilized in Strasbourg, Metz and Besançon.
Rallies in front of the prefectures and sub-prefectures are scheduled for Tuesday. The intersyndicale also called a strike. A demonstration is planned in Paris from the Republic at 1:30 p.m. to Place de la Concorde. The two separate censure motions tabled by the opposition are also scheduled to be debated in the National Assembly on Tuesday.