2023-05-01 15:57:06
More than 2 million French people according to the CGT and nearly 800,000 according to the Ministry of the Interior took to the streets on Monday for the traditional May Day parade, associated this year with a thirteenth day of mobilization once morest the pension reform .
“It’s a big May 1st”, launched this Monday at the start of the followingnoon the leader of the CFDT Laurent Berger. It is indeed almost historic: 2.3 million people demonstrated in France according to the CGT and 782,000 according to the Ministry of the Interior, the largest crowd for May Day since 2002 and the demonstration to “block ” to Jean-Marie Le Pen, then in the second round of the presidential election.
“This May 1st is one of the strongest of the social movement”, also welcomed Sophie Binet, the new general secretary of the CGT, recalling that this day was also the thirteenth day of inter-union mobilization once morest the pension reform.
But if they were beyond a classic May Day, the first figures seemed to show that it would not be the “tidal wave” hoped for by the unions.
The police counted 16,300 demonstrators in Caen (40,000 according to the CGT), 8,700 demonstrators in Strasbourg (15,000), 7,300 in Lille (15,000), 11,000 in Marseille (130,000), 13,500 in Toulouse (100,000), 15,000 in Brest (33,000) and 14,000 in Clermont-Ferrand (25,000).
In the capital, the procession, punctuated by clashes between demonstrators and the police, gathered 550,000 people according to the CGT and 112,000 according to the police headquarters, a high figure but below 800,000 according to the CGT and 119,000 according to the police of March 23, for example.
A “historic union unit”
This workers’ day “takes place in union unity and that alone is historic”, rejoiced the general secretary of FO, Frédéric Souillot.
Indeed, the last united May Day parade with the eight main unions dates back to 2009, in the face of the financial crisis (the CGT had counted nearly 1.2 million demonstrators, the police 456,000). In 2002, the unions had also united to “block” Jean-Marie Le Pen and regarding 1.3 million people had answered the call.
In 2011, following another pension reform enacted five months earlier, the May Day parade was not a great success. Two months before the text is implemented, 350,000 demonstrators in France are marching according to the CGT, and 195,000 according to the Ministry of the Interior.
Ditto in 2016, in full arm wrestling once morest the Labor law. Only 160,000 demonstrators were present in the streets of France, according to the CGT and 97,300 for the Ministry of the Interior.
On May 1, 2019, a few months following the start of the mobilization of yellow vests, the CGT had counted 310,000 demonstrators throughout France, including many wearers of the fluorescent chasuble. The Ministry of the Interior had identified 164,500 people on the streets.
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