In France, ninth day of demonstrations against the pension reform that will raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64. Paris was crossed by a huge procession, clashes and arrests also occurred in other cities. The Paris demonstration started peacefully from the Bastille, but on the way to the Opéra Garnier, a hundred black blocks attacked a fast food restaurant, smashed the windows of a bank and a small supermarket, and destroyed benches and shelters.
It is now guerrilla warfare in Paris as groups of young people in balaclavas invaded the Bastille district and the streets of the Marais, setting fire to rubbish bins and detonating large firecrackers tonight after the demonstration officially ended. In a general onslaught, police and gendarmes rushed into the area, rushed at the youths who were already fleeing, and threw many tear gas canisters directly onto the square. Sirens and a widespread smell of tear gas scare away people sitting at tables in the bars and passers-by.
ANSA agency
Anti-Macron chant “inspired” by notes of “Che Sara” by Ricchi e Poveri (ANSA)
The leader of La France Insoumise, Jean Luc Melenchonhe tweeted: “We are writing a great page in the social history of France. We wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t about a topic like the 2 years of free life or coercion.”
In Bordeaux, where accidents are particularly serious, the large wooden portal at the entrance to the town hall catches fire. Addressing the halls of the Paris Prefecture this evening, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin paid tribute to the work of police officers and gendarmes who were “targets of unacceptable attacks” by people who had left the demonstrations. The minister updated the figures from Businesses increased to 172 in France today including 77 in Paris.
Police forces tried to intervene but were attacked by objects, rocks and incendiary bottles. The fire brigade intervened several times to extinguish the flames of burning dumpsters. 123 police officers and gendarmes were injured. The number of those arrested has now risen to 80.
Pension reform in France, excitement on the Grands Boulevards in Paris
As usual, the number of participants in the demonstrations differs greatly between the trade union and the police version. But either way, today those records are being met or broken. While the CGT had 800,000 in Paris, the police had 119,000, in both cases the highest levels since the protests began two months ago. As for the number of demonstrators in France, 3.6 million (same record) for the CGT, one million and 89,000 for the police.
Pension reform in France, in Paris the train tracks of the Gare de Lyon are occupied
During the Black Bloc incidents, a police officer was hit in the head by “pavé” detached from the road surface and taken to the hospital. Accidents also occurred in Le Havre in the north, where 8 people were arrested for damaging street furniture and setting fire to rubbish bins and public material. Eight were also arrested in Rouen, Normandy, where eleven others were being treated for injuries sustained during the clashes. Among them was a woman who complained that her thumb had been amputated.
France: pension reform, the Paris parade reaches the Place de la Republique
After the President’s television interview, which provoked criticism of the poison from unions and opposition, the French are entering the ninth day of strikes and national mobilizations against Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform. Interviewed live on TF1 and France 2 after weeks of social tensions, Macron went straight ahead, declaring that the reform – the most important of his five-year tenure at the Elysée – would be implemented “by the end of the year,” saying he was ready “on behalf “the best interests of the nation” to bear the “necessary unpopularity”.
“This reform is not a pleasure, it is not a luxury, it is a necessity,” pounded the head of state in the interview, which was followed by 10 million viewers, according to Médiametrie, convinced of the relevance of his project to increase the progressive retirement age from 62 to 64 years. A level that would definitely remain below what all other major European partners, including Italy and Germany, introduced years ago.
ANSA agency
He tapped the table and removed it, but the net unleashes speculation (ANSA)