The last great combat in
France
, "in the midst of a democratic and social crisis", according to the trade unionists.
Thousands of Frenchmen marched
this Holy Thursday throughout the country for the eleventh time against the pension reforms, which President Emmanuel Macron wants to impose through article 49.3,
a constitutional mechanism
that authorizes him not to vote on them legislatively.
This
test of strength and mobilization
seeks to show his power before the resolution of the Constitutional Council on April 14, which may consider the reform legal or illegal, and when the president is in China on a state visit.
Macron remains
adamant
and the meeting between the unions and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne on Wednesday was
"frustrating"
.
It was in this climate that the march from Napoleon's tomb at Les Invalides began in Paris.
The CGT balloons in front and an air of resistance to the Place de la Italie.
Thousands of Frenchmen marched this Holy Thursday throughout the country for the eleventh time against the pension reforms.
Photo: EFE
In Lyon they marched but
the demonstration was infiltrated by the Black Blocs
and the police threw tear gas grenades. They broke shop windows, robbed and attacked banks.
In Bordeaux, with some incidents, in Lille, in Marseille, in Nantes, thousands of protesters marched.
Defending a lifestyle
For the French, the resistance to
an extension
of retirement to 64 years is
a defense of their lifestyle
.
They believe that after so many years of work, between the ages of 60 and 64, they enjoy their family, their grandchildren, the trips, before being affected by occupational diseases such as arthritis, back pain, or problems in knees or old age.
They don't want to give in.
In Paris, spring has not yet arrived but the sun came out. With 11 degrees they began to march on Les Invalides to reach the Place de la Italie.
They were thousands, at first, calmly.
Carnival air and no radicals in sight.
The march in Paris started calmly, with an air of carnival.
Photo: EFE
“We have never had a movement of this magnitude.
We deserve to be heard”, said Laurent Berger, the leader of the CFDT, the first French labor union and social democrat, before leaving in the march.
What will be the result of the social movement against the pension reform?
Laurent Berger responded calmly.
"Perhaps
there is no way out
and this law will be promulgated and applied," said the CFDT general secretary, a moderate social democrat.
“
We will continue to say what we think
of this.
The implementing decrees will have to be written and are extremely important.
Because when you touch the decrees,
you touch people's lives.
If you ask if there will still be one protest a week in six months,
the answer is no
, ”he explained.
64 years is no, says the sign.
Photo: EFE
The union leader considered that Emmanuel Macron was not in a position of strength, "in a country that rejects the reform so much with so much protest and such a low level of confidence."
72 percent of the French
do not trust the president
.
The CFDT representative highlighted in particular the rate of strikers in the private sector, which has been "historically high" in the social movement as a whole: "I know entrepreneurs from small companies with 150 or 200 employees who have had 10-15% of their employees who left, on certain days, for mobilization” explained Berger.
Laurent Berger
remains optimistic
about the day of mobilization this Thursday, April 6.
"March 7, 16 and 23 were the three days with levels of mobilization not seen since the 1980s," he insisted. "And then sometimes there are weaker moments because it weighs on the purchasing power of employees
.
" .
Workers in France are not paid on strike days.
The workers unions have a solidarity well for those who participate in the marches.
But it is the students who have largely replaced the workers.
"We are democracy defending itself," read a banner among the crowd marching in Paris.
Photo: Thomas Samson/AFP
In France,
Easter is not celebrated because it is secular.
The only holiday is next Monday.
This Holy Thursday is a working day and the authorities expected
at least 900,000 people on the streets
across the country.
The Constitutional Council rules
On Friday of next week, the new modalities of the pension system could be definitively established.
In fact, it is April 14 when the Constitutional Council will issue its decisions.
On the one hand, on the shared initiative referendum, which aims to
directly request the French people
to postpone the legal retirement age
beyond 62 years,
and on the other hand, on the reform of the Security financing law Social by 2023.
The Elders of the Council can then decide to censor the text, in part or in its entirety, or approve it in its entirety.
The government had set the month of September as the deadline for the application of the bill during its initial presentation last January.
More recently, Emmanuel Macron indicated, during a television interview, that he wanted it to enter into force at the end of the year "so that things can fall into place."
This new great day of protest will be a mobilization that is amplified and adopts other,
more political and institutional contours.
Thousands march in Paris.
Photo: EFE
In Matignon, the captains of industry, meeting in the Medef, asked Prime Minister Borne to "take better account" of the negotiations between management and unions.
The Interior Minister had the intention this Thursday to deploy more than
11,000 police and gendarmes
in France to supervise the demonstrations.
A woman in the CGT
The CGT marched in Paris with a woman as general secretary, replacing Philippe Martinez, at the head.
Sophie Binet
, general secretary of the CGT, described the meeting with Elisabeth Borne's government as
"a slight".
The CGT marched in Paris with a woman as general secretary: Sophie Binet (center).
Photo: Thomas Samson/AFP
“Elisabeth Borne opposed us with a no-receive ending.
They live in a parallel reality
.
Yesterday's meeting (for Wednesday) was a snub for the government”, said the new number 1 of the CGT.
“Obviously there is a social and democratic crisis.
The government is bunkerized, they do not understand what is happening in the country.
It is a cold anger that drives us.
We feel a rupture of the government in front of the country.
It is his ability to run the country that is being called into question.
There is no other way out than
the withdrawal of this reform
, ”she added.
Many workers agree with Sophie.
“They take us for idiots.
This mobilization will continue.
There is a huge crisis in France.
Macron and his people live in a cloud,
” said Ronald, who works at Renault and is draped in a red CGT flag.
His classmates applaud him.
According to figures from the Ministry of National Education published at noon, about 8% of teachers were on strike this Thursday.
This figure reached 22% on March 23.
In detail, 7.97% of teachers are on strike, including 7.87% in primary education and 8.06% in secondary education, according to the ministry.
The railwaymen join
Railway workers demonstrated at the headquarters of the BlackRock company in Paris, before the march, near the Gare de Lyon.
Several hundred railway workers, led by the SUD Rail delegate, Fabien Villedieu, invaded the headquarters of the multinational BlackRock, the former headquarters of Crédit Lyonnais, in the 2nd arrondissement of the capital shortly before noon.
Railway workers demonstrated in Paris.
Photo: AP
“We need money to finance our pension system.
There is something here,” Bérenger Cernon, delegate of CGT Cheminots, lashed out through the megaphone.
"Instead of taking two years off the worker's life, Macron should come and bring him here."
After about fifteen minutes, under the astonished gaze of the BlackRock employees, they all came out to demonstrate on rue du 4 Septembre,
in the direction of the Opera.
A hydroelectric power station, located in Vogelgrun in Haut-Rhin, was closed on Wednesday night by about thirty demonstrators protesting against the pension reform, reported France 3 Grand Est. River navigation on the Rhine was suspended on
Thursday
.
The
Belgian FGTB union has shown solidarity
with the French strikers by blockading the TotalEnergies depot in Antwerp from 6am on Thursday.
The goal:
prevent fuel deliveries to France
by the French oil group.
The last test of strength
The mobilization in France is beginning to take on another character and can be dangerously amplified, without the slightest understanding or agreement between the workers and the government.
You can get solidarity from European workers.
There are already Spanish and Belgian delegations in the march.
On Thursday night, the Intersindical would seek to announce
next week's mobilization
, before the resolution on the legality of the reform of the Constitutional Council on April 14.
It will be the
last test of strength
.
But the workers unions will not contest the resolution of the Constitutional Council.
Paris, correspondent
ap
look also
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