Carlos was later to be received in France, “on conditions that correspond to our friendship”, said the Élysée Palace. A new date for the visit has not yet been set.
Among other things, Macron wanted to invite the British king to a state banquet at the Palace of Versailles. A train trip to Bordeaux was also planned, where the king wanted to meet organic winegrowers. This has been criticized as inappropriate by opponents of pension reform in view of the social crisis.
France had already declared that it wanted to receive the British king on a state visit from Sunday, despite the violent riots. “We are very focused. We are ready to welcome you in excellent condition,” Interior Secretary Gerald Darmanin told CNews TV. There were also rumors that part of the visit program could be adjusted due to the ongoing protests.
Visit with symbolic power
The mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, also said that canceling the king’s visit to Bordeaux would only encourage anarchists. “Cancel King Charles’ visit to Bordeaux? I don’t want to give that gift to the demonstrators.” However, a Buckingham Palace source had previously suggested that the protests could disrupt the logistics of Charles’ first visit since becoming monarch.
AP/Pool/Jonathan Brady Charles and Macron 2020 in rainy London
Macron hoped the visit would represent a symbolic step in the two countries’ efforts and a way to start a new chapter after years of bad relations in the post-Brexit era. Rather, the visit, if it had taken place, could have become a major embarrassment due to the violent riots.
Violent protests on the streets of France
In Paris, the Ministry of the Interior spoke of 119,000 demonstrators on Thursday and the CGT union, more recently, of 800,000 participants. Unions reported 280,000 demonstrators from France’s second-largest city of Marseille, 110,000 people took to the streets in Bordeaux and 80,000 in Nantes. According to Interior Minister Darmanin, around 12,000 police were deployed in anticipation of the protests – 5,000 of them in Paris alone.
Darmanin spoke of 457 arrests on CNews on Friday. Around 440 police and gendarmes were injured in the riots. In Paris alone there were about 900 fires on the sidelines of the protests.
Anger over raising the retirement age
The protests are directed against the gradual increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 and the actions of the Macron government. In addition, the number of years of payment required for a full pension is expected to increase more rapidly. This is to avoid an imminent funding gap in the pension fund. Unions consider the project unfair and brutal.
AP/Thomas Padilla The march on Place de la Bastille in Paris
prisons in paris
The clashes broke out in an initially peaceful demonstration in central Paris after security forces were attacked with projectiles and rubbish bins set on fire by small “Black Bloc” groups. Police used tear gas and a fast food chain was looted. Shop windows were smashed, benches demolished. Interior Minister Darmanin wrote in the evening about more than 120 injured emergency services and more than 80 arrests.
France: President Macron under pressure
Protest marches and riots broke out again in France. President Emmanuel Macron is under increasing pressure with his pension reform plans.
There were also riots in several other cities. In Bordeaux, demonstrators set fire to the town hall portal. There and also in Nantes, police fired tear gas grenades at demonstrators. In Rennes they used water cannons. In Lorient, according to the Ouest-France newspaper, the courtyard of a police station was set on fire by projectiles. A wildcat strike broke out at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, with protesters blocking access to a terminal.
Portal/Twitter@bookee0 Bordeaux City Hall’s burning portal
The reform was passed in Parliament
It was the first day of protests against the reform since Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, on instructions from Macron, resorted to constitutional paragraph 49.3 to impose the reform. As a result, a law can pass without a final vote in Parliament if the government survives a subsequent no-confidence vote. On Monday, the government narrowly escaped being overthrown in such a vote.
Since the plans became known, there have been repeated general strikes and demonstrations, most of them peaceful. However, since Macron’s government launched the reform last week using a procedural trick that bypassed a vote in parliament, resistance has mounted.
“General interest of the country”
Macron has been silent in recent weeks, and on Wednesday he finally justified the reform in an interview with broadcasters TF1 and France 2 TV. There he said that the pension reform should come into effect “by the end of the year”. “We are still waiting for the Constitutional Council’s judgment,” Macron said. The Constitutional Council may overturn parts of the reform, but it is not clear when it will decide.
APA/AFP/Nicolas Tucat Workers on strike at an oil depot in Fos-sur-Mer
“We ask people to strive. This is never popular.” But, as Macron justifies: “Between the ballot box and the short term and the general interest of the country, I choose the general interest of the country.” Reform is needed, most European countries already have a greater an agreed retirement age.
Many people are angry, said CGT President Philippe Martinez the day after Macron’s remarks. The situation is explosive. He and other union leaders called for calm but expressed anger at Macron’s “provocative” comments. Laurent Berger, head of France’s largest trade union CFDT, told broadcaster BFM TV that Macron’s comments had fueled anger.
debate
Pension reform: how big is the ordeal for France?
“He’s the one who sets the country on fire”
“He is the one who is setting the country on fire,” Celine Verzeletti of the CGT union told France Inter radio. Macron defended his plan in a television interview on Wednesday. He also compared the protests to January 6, 2021, the day the Capitol was stormed in Washington.
Macron himself avoided contact with the public on Thursday and, contrary to custom, did not face reporters when he arrived at the EU summit in Brussels.