Impossible for the press to speak to Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Arrived from a street adjacent to the Faubourg Saint-Antoine, fifteen minutes after the departure of the procession of young people, Saturday around 2 p.m., the leader of the Insoumis movement carefully avoided speaking outside of a small public intervention at the microphone of the bus with a platform serving as a rolling HQ.
Three days after the first major mobilization against the pension reform, the triple presidential candidate did not want the demonstration of young people against the pension reform which brought together some 10,000 participants according to a police source - 150,000 according to the organizers - "
is reduced to the demonstration of Jean-Luc Mélenchon
".
“
It is very important that young people mobilize
”
In any case, this is what the LFI deputy Mathilde Panot, president of the group in Parliament, put forward.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon probably did not want to be questioned about the internal crisis in his movement either, any more than about the tensions with the unions.
The latter sometimes strongly reproach him, the CGT and the CFDT in particular, for having mounted this march alone, before Christmas, without worrying about the priority given to social mobilizations at the inter-union.
“
The intersyndicale has called for the movement to be widened as much as possible and for us, it is very important that young people mobilize because they will be particularly impacted by this reform, already to access their first job.
“Defended Mathilde Panot in the procession.
Thursday, during the first mobilization, Jean-Luc Mélenchon walked in Marseille, on his side.
“
Be cursed for wanting to turn our whole existence into a commodity
”
A few minutes after the development of Mathilde Panot, at the very moment when a few dozen young people in black who had imposed themselves at the head of the procession were looking for the police, the former deputy for Bouches-du-Rhône, spoke from the roof of the bus to address Emmanuel Macron.
"
Be cursed for wanting to transform our entire existence into merchandise (...) dirty everything, spoil everything, reduce everything, quantify everything
", he launched to the applause of the procession.
For him, the increase in the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years will "
not make a single person work
" but "
it will be more unemployed people, more sick people, and above all less life.
".
LIVE - "March for our pensions": return to calm after tensions between black blocks and police
In the procession, in addition to youth organizations and some radical left figures including Olivier Besancenot, former NPA presidential candidate, several environmental parliamentarians, around ten, have chosen to come even if the leadership of their party does not hadn't officially called to walk.
Sandra Regol, deputy of Bas-Rhin thus judged that her "
duty
" was to be there with "
youth unions, students and high school students
".
“
When young people get involved, the reforms they oppose have little chance of passing
,” further defended Aurélien Saintoul, LFI deputy for Hauts-de-Seine.
To hear it, despite a relative mobilization, "
this march is an accelerator of what was done on Thursday
".
Other mobilizations, in other forms – blockades in particular – will be organized by the next big march planned by the inter-union, on January 31.
