Protests have affected schools and transport sectors; At least 80 people were arrested and 123 police officers were injured
Philippe Lopez/AFP
A day after the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, breaking the silence and speaking out about the unpopular pension reform passed last Monday 20th and pushing the line against the strikers, for the ninth straight day more than a million people took to the streets across the country to protest to demonstrate the change and the French leader. According to the Interior Ministry, 1.089 million demonstrators were counted. However, the balance is 200,000 people below the record mobilization registered on March 7th. Macron said he acknowledged the “unpopularity” of a reform he wanted to see passed “by the end of the year” for the “general interest” and criticized unions, the opposition and the most radical protesters, whom he likened to “subversives”. . Today’s protests have been accompanied by strikes affecting schools and the transport sector, looting and violence, blockades of colleges and universities and the closure of monuments such as the Eiffel Tower. Second French NewspaperLe Monde‘ 80 people were arrested and 123 police officers injured, Interior Minister Gérard Darmanin said. In the morning, a group blocked access to the main Paris airport. “We have no choice but to strike and lock down the economy until Macron gives in and withdraws the project,” said Fabrice Criquet, general secretary of the Paris airport workers’ union. The capital and other cities saw unrest during and after the marches, which were mostly peaceful. In Paris, the unrest continued into Thursday night.
The march in Paris broke a record with 119,000 demonstrators according to the ministry and 800,000 according to the CGT union. The day of strikes and demonstrations is the first since Macron decided to decree his unpopular pension reform, which polls say all unions and two out of three French people oppose. This decision, announced last Thursday and confirmed on Monday by the rejection of two motions of no confidence in the government, sparked renewed tension in France. Hundreds of people, mostly young people, have since taken part in impromptu protests, which have been marked by burning garbage cans and reports of police violence. This Thursday’s mobilization, which saw unrest in Paris and other cities such as Rennes and Nantes, was seen as crucial to unions’ ability to sustain the protests. The pension reform saga is a period of attrition, in which an inflexible government wants to put social conflict behind it and an opposition political, union and popular is ready to continue and even intensify the armwrestling.
This Thursday’s demonstrations have been heralded as crucial in showing whether the unions will be able to keep alive the mobilization against the reform, which awaits the final approval of the Constitutional Council. The government hopes the demonstrations will subside and everything will return to normal “by the weekend”, but unions have already called for new protests for Saturday and Sunday and a new big day of demonstrations on Tuesday 28 March. The 45yearold president is under pressure: forced to compromise with the rightwing opposition to pass his laws and blamed by 70% of French for violence and unrest, according to an Odoxa poll. Amid days of blockades at warehouses and refineries, the government has ordered some strikers back to work to alleviate fuel shortages at 15% of service stations and the “critical” kerosene supply situation at Paris airports. The capital continues with thousands of tons of rubbish accumulated on the streets days before the arrival of King Charles III who continued his journey to France. Among other things, there are occasional road closures and port blockades that are spread across the country.
🇫🇷 Clashes between police and protesters in Nantes, France. pic.twitter.com/EzgTeaxHrI
— Prof. Danuzio Neto | OSINT Geopolitical News (@danuzioneto) March 23, 2023
*With international agencies