Violence broke out between protesters and security forces for a third night on Saturday in central Paris over the government’s decision to abandon a parliamentary vote on unpopular pension reforms.
President Emmanuel Macron’s overhaul will raise the normal retirement age by two years to 64, which he says is essential to ensure the system doesn’t go bust.
After ministers approved the plan by decree on Thursday, bypassing the lower house of parliament, rival opposition parties tabled two separate no-confidence motions, which are due to be debated on Monday afternoon. You are likely to fail.
What happened on Saturday?
Police said around 4,000 people had gathered in the Place d’Italie after being banned from demonstrating near the National Assembly building due to angry clashes in previous nights.
The ban was ordered because of “serious risk of disturbing public order”.
Le Monde newspaper said a group of protesters started garbage fires, disrupted classes on billboards and bus shelters and confronted police with barricades used to block roads.
According to the newspaper, 73 people were arrested and, as in previous nights, riot police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse the crowd.
Earlier on Saturday, dozens of students and activists marched through Paris’s Forum des Halles shopping mall, chanting loudly and emitting red smoke.
Violence was also reported in the southeastern city of Lyon for a second night, when small groups were confronted with police on several occasions, prompting a response that included tear gas.
More than 30 people were arrested on Friday after a group of protesters tried to break into a town hall and set the building on fire.
French protest against Macron’s pension reform
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Largely peaceful marches took place in several other French cities, including Marseille, Montpellier and Nantes – where a placard read “Death to the King”, seemingly in reference to Macron.
Workers continued to protest in several cities over the government’s handling of pension reformsCredit: STEPHANE MAHE/Portal
How is the protest movement going?
A broad coalition of France’s main unions has said it will continue to mobilize members to try to force a reversal on pension changes.
Some unions ordered workers to continue their rolling strikes, which severely affected high-speed and regional rail services, among others, this weekend.
Paris municipal rubbish collectors have continued their action and an estimated 10,000 tons of rubbish were festering on the streets as of Friday.
At some French airports, nearly a third of flights will be canceled due to strikes on Monday, union leaders predicted.
The CGT union announced that its members closed the TotalEnergies oil refinery in Normandy on Friday evening. A similar blockade at a refinery in southern France began earlier in the day.
A nationwide industrial action day is also planned for Thursday – the ninth since mid-January.
Public hostility is not enough to thwart plans
The resistance to the pension reform was already great, according to surveys, two-thirds of the French population were against the plan.
But the sudden move to avoid a parliamentary vote by invoking the controversial Article 49.3 of the constitution not only provoked public outrage but also criticism from the political class.
French government forces pension reform
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Next week in Parliament, opposition lawmakers are hoping to garner enough support to topple the cabinet in the no-confidence votes and overturn the law.
But the cabinet of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne will largely survive.
The motion would need the support of about half of opposition right-wing Republicans, a scenario considered highly unlikely. They would also need the combined support of the powerful far-left and far-right factions in the National Assembly.
Macron made pension reform the focus of his re-election campaign last year.
While his government has argued France needs to adapt to its European neighbors, where retirement ages are typically higher, critics say the changes are unfair to people working in physically demanding jobs from an early age and to women taking career breaks to raise children.
The unrest is reminiscent of the yellow vest protests that erupted in late 2018 over high fuel prices, forcing Macron to partially reverse a carbon tax.
Macron had also planned pension reform for his first term as president, but had to backtrack on the idea and promise during last year’s election campaign to get the job done.
mm/msh (AFP, AP, Portal)