Surely, as always, the number of participants that the Paris Prefecture will announce later will be much smaller, but the media repeat the union’s announcement on an impressive day of mobilizations against the star project of President Emmanuel Macron, who is in Spain.
For the first time in more than a decade, the eight largest unions agreed on the call to protest, led by the CGT and the French Confederation of Democratic Trade Unions (CFDT), organizations that usually disagree on their positions.
The question to be answered is whether the marches in the country’s cities have surpassed one million participants, a goal advocated by CGT general secretary Philippe Martinez and political figures such as the national secretary of the Communist Party, Fabien Roussel.
Along with the workers, leaders of left-wing forces in Paris protested the reform, including Roussel himself, Socialist Party First Secretary Olivier Faure, Bank of La Francia Insumisa (LFI) chairwoman in the Assembly Nacional, Mathilde Panot, and the assistant ecologist Sandrine Rousseau.
LFI leader and former presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon advanced in Marseille, where he estimated the protesters at 140,000 and confirmed that Macron had lost the first battle.
Giant balloons, flags, banners, slogans, music and fireworks decorated the colorful marches, accompanied by major strikes in sectors such as transport, energy, education and public services.
The participants rejected in particular the extension of the retirement age from 62 to 64 years, but also the increase in the contribution period to 43 years and the abolition of special pension regulations.
In this capital, authorities have so far confirmed 30 arrests for violent crimes, a number that could rise in the coming hours.
From Barcelona, where he signed a friendship and cooperation treaty with Spain, Macron defended the pension reform, which he described as “fair and responsible”.
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