The French took to the streets by the thousands again on Thursday against liberal President Emmanuel Macron's unpopular pension reform, in a last-ditch attempt to apply pressure a day before the decisive decision of the Constitutional Council, which could put it on
the
table
. freezer or give it a full or partial green light.
Even before the march started in Paris, there were episodes of violence.
Railroaders took over a local Louis Vuitton.
There were clashes on the Champs-Élysées, where police fired tear gas at protesters.
A local Lacoste brand was also targeted by some violent.
In Rennes they burned cars
.
And the garbage collectors returned to unemployment.
In Rennes they burned cars.
Photo: AP
"We want to put pressure on them, even though we know that the Constitutional Council will not go in our favor," admitted Hervé Bordereau, 57, during the blockade of an incinerator plant near Paris.
After the first incidents in the morning, the authorities prohibited any demonstration
in front of the institution's headquarters near the Louvre museum
as of Thursday night.
The unions and a majority of the French, according to polls,
want the government to backtrack
on delaying the retirement age from 62 to 64 years by 2030 and to advance to 2027 the requirement to contribute 43 years, and not 42, to collect a full pension.
Protesters advance in Lorient, France.
Photo: Reuters
But
Macron refuses.
"The country must keep moving forward," he said on Wednesday from Amsterdam, where he announced that he will propose a meeting of the social partners to see
how to "move forward"
regardless of the decision of the Constitutional Council.
However, the task does not seem easy.
The social conflict is entrenched and the relationship has become tense in recent weeks with union leaders, especially with the moderate Laurent Berger, of the French Democratic Labor Confederation (CFDT).
Beyond the reform that he wants to see in force in the coming months, the 45-year-old president is risking being able to apply his program during his second term until 2027.
"We are the uprising of the Earth", reads a banner between a march, in Rennes.
Photo: Damien Meyer / AFP
Symbol of the importance he attaches to it, Macron decided on March 16
to impose his reform by decree
, fearing he would lose the vote in Parliament where he lacks an absolute majority, which led to
a radicalization of the protests
.
Although the mobilization came to count on March 7 with between
1.28 million protesters,
according to the police, and 3.5 million, for the CGT union, the authorities expected between 400,000 and 600,000 this Thursday, on the twelfth day.
The strike in key sectors such as transport and energy is also narrower, although Paris garbage collectors plan to resume their strike, after a previous three-week strike left up to 10,000 tons of rubbish piled up on the streets.
The authorities expected between 400,000 and 600,000 this Thursday.
Photo: Thibaud Moritz / AFP
High schools and universities in France
woke up this Thursday with blockades
and road access to several western cities such as Caen, Brest and Rennes registered disturbances from protesters.
The unions warned that the open social conflict with the pension reform caused a "democratic crisis" and benefited the far-right Marine Le Pen, who with her silent opposition is rising in the polls.
In this context,
the nine "wise men" of the Constitutional Court must rule on the validity of the reform and on
a request for a referendum
on the retirement age requested by the left-wing opposition
on Friday afternoon .
Observers consider a total annulment of the reform unlikely and rather advocate the
annulment of parts of it
which, depending on which ones and their scope
, could reinforce the unions' demand
for a withdrawal of the law.
The go-ahead for the referendum could redirect the mobilization, since
its first challenge would be to collect the 4.87 million signatures
necessary for it to be held, although the leader of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Sophie Binet, indicated on Thursday that the demonstrations will continue.
Among the hypotheses studied by the unions after the decision of the Constitutional Council are
demonstrations for May 1
, on the occasion of International Workers' Day, and even the call for
a giant march in Paris.
"We will have to wait and see what happens tomorrow," said Philippe Simon, a 56-year-old trade unionist from the National Union of Autonomous Trade Unions (UNSA), during a blockade at the entrance to a logistics park in Rennes, and who said he was willing "to go to Paris" to demonstrate.
France is one of the European countries where the retirement age is lower, without the schemes being completely comparable.
The government assures that its reform seeks to avoid a future deficit in the pension fund.
AFP
ap
look too
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