Fear of renewed violent incidents dominates this Tuesday, the tenth day of demonstrations and strikes against pension reforms in France. The government will deploy 13,000 police and gendarmes across the country and 5,500 in Paris, an “unprecedented” resource, according to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin. The unrest at the protests and the allegations of police abuse have been shaping the reform for several days, which was passed last week and is still pending a decision by the Constitutional Court.
In Paris, the demonstration started at 2 p.m. from the Place de la République in the direction of the Place de la Nation in a festive atmosphere and with plenty of youth presence. By 3:00 p.m., police had arrested 18 people. In cities like Nantes and Rennes in western France, the first incidents were registered in the early afternoon.
Dragan Auerty, 22, commented in Nantes: “The demonstrations are becoming increasingly violent. I think fewer people came, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be less destructive. Apart from the uncertainty, what I sense is an enormous lack of trust in the institutions, for example in the person of the President of the Republic. And not only me: My contemporaries see it the same way.”
Tenth day of protests in France following President Macron’s reform.
Standing a safe distance from the altercation that took place in the Nantes march, but gazing at the smoke from the tear gas canisters in the distance, is Martial Valade, 72. He quit smoking and said, “You can’t commit yourself, resignation breeds pathology. Look how the Belgians are not to protest. I support all of that. You can’t live to work. In addition, there is much to complain about. For example, through the deterioration of public services. Look, I’ve been waiting for a tooth with bad gums to be operated on for four months.”
For the unions and the opposition, Tuesday’s demonstrations are a new test of their ability to sustain mobilization. Authorities are confident that the movement will eventually lose momentum. Last Thursday, on the ninth day of protests and strikes, more than a million people took to the streets across France. The figure showed that the response was not abating, but this Tuesday’s data shows slightly less follow-up than the previous days.
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Both the organizers and the authorities have given participation figures that reflect a lower turnout than the day before, March 23. Laurent Berger, general secretary of the CFDT, the first trade union in France, from the head of the demonstration in Paris confirmed a 20% decline in the capital. The same has happened in cities like Rennes, Brest or Bayonne, where there are between 30 and 40% fewer protesters, or in Montpellier, where the drop reaches 50%.
In Nantes, a city of around 300,000 people, 60,000 people have come to the demonstrations, according to the unions, while the authorities are keeping it at 18,000. Lola Pierre Le Moing, 21, marched in this western city with a banner commemorating all the years of great revolts in France, from the French Revolution of 1789 to the Yellow Vests of 2018. And it contained, in one different color, the year 2023. “Macron said it is not legitimate that there is disorder in the streets. I reply that there is nothing more legitimate than the people on the street.”
“There is a will among some to create an insurgent climate, but we are not in an insurgency,” Paris police prefect Laurent Nunez told France Inter. “Police, gendarmes and firefighters are present to maintain republican order.”
France is a country under tension. Two people who took part in an environmental rally on Saturday – a protest that saw violent clashes between activists and law enforcement officials – are torn between life and death. No one has been killed in the anti-pension reform demonstrations that began in January.
President Emmanuel Macron has agreed to negotiate with the unions but refuses to abandon the reform. Berger has asked for it to be left on hold as a condition of opening dialogue and has suggested a team of mediators be appointed to help with negotiations. Philippe Martinez, outgoing general secretary of the CGT union, has joined the petition. Some Macronist MPs defend this path, but the government has rejected it. “We don’t need intermediaries to talk to,” said government spokesman Olivier Véran.
Demonstrators advance with torches at a demonstration in Marseille on Tuesday. Daniel Cole (AP)
Security forces agents during the demonstration in support of Macron’s pension reforms this Tuesday in Nantes.Javier Hernández
A man takes part in the tenth day of protests against Macron’s pension reforms in Nantes. Javier Hernandez
Young people are demonstrating in Nantes (western France) Javier Hernández this Tuesday
Students from the Faculty of Medicine are protesting in the streets of Nantes this Tuesday.Javier Hernández
A protester holds a union flag on the tenth day of protests this Tuesday in Nice. VALERY HACHE (AFP)
A vehicle set on fire during Tuesday’s riots in Nantes. Javier Hernandez
Demonstrators approach and hang placards on one of the lions in Republic Square in Paris during a new day of demonstrations.NACHO DOCE (Portal)
A protester fires a tear gas canister while others use umbrellas as shields during clashes with police in Nantes. SEBASTIEN SALOM-GOMIS (AFP)
A protester holds a torch at a demonstration in Nice on Tuesday. VALERY HACHE (AFP)
Young people set fire to buckets during a protest in Nantes, western France, on Tuesday. Jeremiah González (AP)
A protester sprayed a surveillance camera on a street in Nantes this Tuesday. STEPHANE MAHE (Portal)
A man launches anti-Macron government slogans on the tenth day of protests against pension reforms. Bob Edme (AP)
A protester with a banner opposing Macron’s pension reforms walks past the burning entrance of a BNP Paribas bank branch in Nantes on Tuesday. STEPHANE MAHE (Portal)
Riots between demonstrators and the police in the city of Nantes. Jeremiah González (AP)
Riots at the train station in the city of Lorient (north-western France) on the day of the protests this Tuesday. FRED TANNEAU (AFP)
A vehicle caught fire during the riots in Nantes. SEBASTIEN SALOM-GOMIS (AFP)
A group of workers walk between the train tracks in Paris this Tuesday. SARAH MEYSONNIER (Portal)
A protester holds a torch during the 10th day of protests in Paris on Tuesday. SARAH MEYSONNIER (Portal)
Demonstrators during the day of protests in the French city of Nantes this Tuesday. Jeremiah González (AP)
Two young people with a stop sign on their backs during a demonstration in Montpellier (south of France) this Tuesday. Pascal Guyot (AFP)
Striking railway workers are demonstrating this Tuesday at the Lyon train station (south-eastern France). Thomas Padilla
A group of students take part in the strike day in Montpellier (south of France). Pascal Guyot (AFP)
According to various polls, Macron’s popularity has fallen below 30%. There are projections to suggest that if general elections are held now, his party could rise from first to third parliamentary force, with the extreme right of the National Regrouping becoming the first faction. The constitutional court has until April 21 to decide on the reform.
The strike affects transport, energy and education, among other things. In sectors such as education, the follow-up was less than at other conferences. In Paris he closed the Eiffel Tower. The Louvre had closed the day before. Due to the air traffic controllers’ strike, the Directorate-General for Civil Aviation has requested a 20% reduction in flights at Paris-Orly, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux airports.
The day before, participation had already been expanded to include new sectors such as students. A girl in her 20s said this Tuesday that she was protesting in Nantes against the postponement of the retirement age (“if we don’t fight now, they will cut it so much that when we arrive there will be no retirement age”). but also for other things: “For example: because they let the planet die. There will be no retirement, nor will there be a planet. This is one of the innovations following the parliamentary adoption of the reform by decree and the motion of no confidence, which the government outvoted by just nine votes.
riot investigations
The other novelty is violence. After months of largely peaceful protests, several nights of rioting broke out in Paris and other cities last week. The previous demonstration on Thursday ended with clashes with police and spectacular images including the burning down of the entrance to Bordeaux City Hall.
Demonstration this Tuesday in Nice, on the tenth day of protests in France against the pension reform. ERIC GAILLARD (Portal)
The government has denounced the presence of violent groups at the demonstrations, pointing out that nearly half a thousand police officers have been injured, while images of agents using excessive or indiscriminate force have been circulating on social media. The Police Internal Inspectorate has opened 17 preliminary investigations by court order since January.
Tituan Guidul, 21, stressed at the march in Nantes: “It is true that there has been violence. But it’s also not fair that only violence is portrayed. There is also violence from the police. Millions take to the streets to protest and we only look at the violence.”
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic warned in a statement last week: “Sporadic acts of violence by some demonstrators and other reprehensible acts by others during a demonstration do not justify the excessive use of force by state agents”. French Ombudsman Claire Hédon has received 56 complaints of law enforcement violence, 40 of them in the last few days. “The testimonies and images that are reaching us show unacceptable situations,” he told Le Monde.
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