French police arrested 17 people this Sunday in Paris during another protest against President Emmanuel Macron’s government’s approval of pension reforms, local media reports.
Hundreds of people gathered in the Les Halles district amid a massive police operation. Riot police surrounded the demonstrators and then drove them away.
Other French cities were also the scene of protests on the same day. Such is the case of Senlis, in the Picardy region, where a group of activists occupied a tollbooth and demanded that it be free. There were four arrests.
🔴 URGENT ‼️
4 militants from SUD-Rail vienne d’ĂŞtre placĂ©s in GAV suite Ă l’action pacifique du pĂ©age de Senlis. 4 paths from Paris Nord and Saint-Lazare. Darmanin veut reprimer toutes les actions, mais nous continuerons le combat!
Nous exigeons leur libération immédiate! pic.twitter.com/WTL1ntipO8
— Anasse Kazib (@AnasseKazib) March 19, 2023
There were also demonstrations in Nice and Lyon, where some demonstrators broke into the Fine Arts Museum to demand the rollback of the reform. At the same time, between 200 and 250 people gathered in Lille.
Profession of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon par le collectif Culture en Lutte pour other le retrait de la réforme des retraites. pic.twitter.com/F4CqZ3TGJZ
— Lyon Insurrection (@LyonInsurrection) March 19, 2023
Some demonstrators used the carnival held in Marseille to protest against the government, which led to clashes with the police, who even used tear gas to disperse the gathering.
This Saturday, new demonstrations were registered in several cities in France against the approval of the controversial reform promoted by the Macron executive, which used article 49.3 of the constitution to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 without going through the vote The National Assembly. A total of 81 arrests were made.
“The streets are ours,” shouted citizens in the French capital. “The government enforced their law by force. But we have to fight for our social gains, and that can only be done by taking to the streets,” 22-year-old Melodie Tunc said during the rally.
Source: RT News