France, Constitutional Council approval of pension reform: violent clashes in Paris

Apr 14, 2023 8:09 p.m

According to the judgment of the wise men, windows were smashed and garbage cans set on fire, an entire shelf of electric bicycles was burned

Paris, the square, incensed after the green light for pension reform

Clashes in Paris: From the Hotel de Ville, where the demonstrators had gathered for a large part of the pension reform after the Constitutional Council had given the go-ahead, a first train went to the Place de la Concorde. A few dozen meters down the Rue de Rivoli, the first broken shop windows, stones thrown and police attacks. READ ALL READ LESS

In Franceimmediately after green light from the Constitutional Council to almost all controversial pension reform, protesters gathered in the rain at the Hotel de Ville in Paris, on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, Marseille, Toulouse, Lyon and dozens of other cities. In less than an hour, the spontaneous demonstrations turned into marches, one towards Concorde, others spontaneously towards République and Place de la Bastille. On the Rue de Rivoli the violent clashes with the police, broken shop windows and dumpster fires. A whole stand of electric bikes is on fire right outside Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s windows. TO Rennes the door of a police station and the entrance to a convention center in historic Jacobin monastery they were set on fire.

Unions at war The trade unions and the opposition are at loggerheads after three months of protests, ready for anything. “We appeal to Macron not to announce this law. If he does, he will no longer be able to control the country, he will not govern against the people,” said Sophie Binet, the new secretary of France’s most powerful union. the CGT. “As of now, we are rejecting Macron’s invitation to a meeting on Tuesday,” affirmed the militant Sophie Binet, surrounded by demonstrators, with a Borsalino on her head and a red scarf around her neck. The invitation to a peacemaking meeting arrived from the Elysée boss early Friday afternoon, but the parties are now further apart than ever.

Strikes will multiply The verdict of the wise men – with the approval of the article raising the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64, the rejection of the social corrections and the referendum on the reform – represents a drastic turning point. “The struggle goes on”, summarized the tribune of the left Jean-Luc Mélenchon together, the strikes will multiply, the demonstrations – with their often violent lines – will continue. There was only anticipation on Friday evening, dozens of marches are already planned for Saturday, and unions and the opposition are working on a day of general protest already announced for May Day.

Le Pen: “The people always have the last word” The verdict of the wise men, which some had foreseen but which contradicts the majority of constitutionalists, who in recent days have been urged by the media to risk their predictions, has shattered every draft of social dialogue that had been hypothesized in recent hours, nullified. A different strategy, but also total opposition for Marine Le Pen, who is initially looking to 2027 and her presidential ambitions: “The political fate of the pension reform has not been decided, the people always have the last word and the people will run out of alternatives that will return to this useless and unjust reform”.

Premier Borne: “Neither winners nor losers” “There are no winners or losers tonight,” Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said, trying to pour water on the fire, while her government’s communications services took note of the Wise Men’s positive decisions and announced that “with this reform, the pension system France will be up until be in balance by 2030”.

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