The tenth day of mobilization in
France
against the pension reforms will take place this Tuesday afternoon, in a climate of tension, with 240 demonstrations throughout the country.
The unions are calling for "mediation" with the government, to
stop street violence
that threatens to plunge the country into a complete crisis.
A high-risk manifestation.
The presence of 1,000 radicalized demonstrators is expected, many coming from outside France.
"We must pause on the measure of 64 years and mediate," asked Laurent Berger, the leader of the CFDT moderate workers' union.
He was joined by Philippe Martinez, the now former leader of the CGT, who announced that the inter-union is going to write to President Emmanuel Macron a proposal to resolve the social conflict.
"By taking into account that the mobilization is not weakening, we have once again proposed to the government and, above all, to the President of the Republic to suspend his project and appoint a mediator," said Martínez, who has just left his leadership. .
Paris closed, empty and with garbage.
Photo: Bloomberg
Fear of black blocks
Until now, the government has not given in and fears an out-of-control mobilization
on Tuesday ,
taken over by the Black Blocs, which will be even worse than last Thursday.
In Paris alone there will be 5,000 police officers deployed and 13,000 throughout the country, where some marches had already started earlier.
Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin warns of
an "unprecedented" security device
to frame the demonstrations and prevent violence.
The fear that the scenes of extreme violence will be repeated in Sainte Soline, in Deux Sevres, where five people are injured in a coma.
Or violence like in the Grands Boulevards and the Opera, where the clashes were brutal and ended with the destruction of stained glass windows, burning of buildings and leaving Paris stunned by violence and fires.
The demonstration in Paris will begin at the Place de la République and end at the Place de la Nation.
The route seems armored in the XI district of Paris. The merchants of Boulevard Voltaire, where until now the original procession will pass, have covered their windows with metal structures to protect it from destruction.
Traders fed up with violence
Restaurants and boutiques fear the worst.
Banks like the LCB and insurers look like a fortress.
But those who fear the most are the small merchants: those who have a small market or a kiosk, who protect themselves by lowering the metal curtain, in Voltaire and its surroundings.
Bars suffer just like restaurants.
Parisians do not go out in fear
of the marches but also of the wild demonstrations, which arise at any moment.
"We are tired.
First it was the Yellow Vests, then the Covid, now the strikes.
Nobody goes to the office
.
There are 9 million people
teleworking
and they do not consume”, explained Semroud Amara, manager of Chez Papa on Boulevard Voltaire.
The police warned him that "today will be terrible. They have already warned us. The tension will be terrible and we run the risk of a drama," he adds.
Since Monday night, the police have already been deployed in the most sensitive places along the route and its adjacent streets.
If the Black Blocs
manage to infiltrate the head of the march,
the procession stops and is diverted to other streets to preserve the peaceful protesters.
The police fear the Black Blocks and the youth, who
will be the majority in the march
.
High school students and students have joined the movement.
At least 60,000 are expected at the rally.
In Nice the marches started early.
Photo: EFE
“The risk is real today.
Everything can be produced.
The risk of conflagration is real and we have warned the merchants," warned Emmanuel Gregoire, first deputy of the Paris mayor's office.
extended anger
Anger spreads and
is focused on President Emmanuel Macron
.
The union protesters want to demonstrate peacefully but believe that the presidential stubbornness is the origin of this row, which leads to violence.
Macron met the Council of Ministers on Tuesday and said
he will "continue to reach out" to the unions
.
For them, the maintenance of order is the responsibility of the state and until now, they have mediated the protests showing only violence and not only the demonstration that marches peacefully.
“We are going to continue protecting the peaceful protesters.
What overflows, the vandals, the Black Blocs are the responsibility of the state.
The unions displaced 400 people to ensure our demonstration”, explained Laurence Escure, general secretary of the National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions.
Ban Brav M
A petition reaches 100,000 signatures to request the elimination of the Brav M, the brigade for the repression of motorized violent actions.
It is made up of two policemen on a motorcycle:
one drives and the other shoots grenades or gases
.
It is not a unit for the maintenance of order but an invention of a former prefect during the conflict with the Yellow Vests, which serves to stop the "casseurs" or vandals, which is now being used for radicalized demonstrations.
The brigade behaves brutally in the use of
stun grenades and repression
.
He leaves injured and mutilated in his interventions and his abuses have been recorded, which are being investigated.
The specialists believe that they should be sent for retraining at the gendarmerie training center in Saint Astiere.
The strike continues in France.
There are canceled flights on Thursday and Friday
.
Reduced trains and subways.
The tension has started in Rennes, where the firefighters were forced to leave under insults when they wanted to fight a fire from the protesters.
Paris, correspondent
ap
look also
Pension reform in France: "This text will continue its democratic path", Macron challenged
Crisis in France and Paris set on fire: the protest is no longer against the pension reform, it is against Macron
