The mobilizations in France once morest the pension reform of President Emmanuel Macron intensified this Tuesday. It is estimated that more than a million people adhered to the claim.
Some 1.28 million people, according to the government (3.5 million, according to the CGT union) participated in the largest protest once morest social reform in three decades and slightly higher than that of January 31 -between 1.27 million (police) and 2.8 million (CGT)-.
The second economy of the European Union (EU) experienced its sixth day of strike since January 19 at the call of the unions once morest the project of the Macron government to toughen the conditions to access a full pension.
At the end of the day, the union front asked the French president for an “urgent” meeting because his “silence is no longer possible” and called a new protest on Saturday and another next week, coinciding with key moments in the parliamentary process of the project.
“We will not give up. We have to shock the government to relent”, said Patrick, a 61-year-old railway retiree, who demonstrated in the rain with some 6,000 people.
The unions also supported the demonstrations on Wednesday on the occasion of International Women’s Day and on Thursday, at the call of the students, two of the groups that are among the most affected by the reform.
In front of them, the president is playing an important part of his political creditfollowing the pandemic forced him to abandon a previous reform during his first term, also marked by the social protest of the “yellow vests”.
But two out of three French people, according to polls, remain opposed to his project to delay the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 and advance to 2027 the requirement to contribute 43 years (and not 42, as now) to collect a full pension.
The protests registered this Tuesday isolated clashes with security forces in several cities, including Paris, where 43 people were detained, according to police.
After weeks of unsuccessful peaceful protests since January 19, the unions have intensified their fight once morest a government firm in its position, at the end of the winter school holidays in France. Their goal was to “paralyze” the economy.
The day dawned with blocked roads from Rennes (west) to Perpignan (south), with the suspension of the dispatch of fuel from all refineries, with a strike by garbage collectors, with schools closed, trains and flights cancelled, etc..
In Annonay (southeast), a stronghold of Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt, more than 2,000 homes were left without electricity, the Enedis company said. Other possible “wild” supply cuts were registered in Boulogne-sur-Mer and Neuville-en-Ferrain (north).
On Monday, The strikers have already paralyzed three of the four methane terminals for “seven days” and, since Friday, they have caused electricity production to fall in the nuclear sector.
But despite the strong mobilization in the streets, the percentage of strikers was lower than that registered at the beginning of the movementespecially among workers in the train service (39% at noon according to the unions) and teachers (a third, according to the government).
After failing in her attempt to convince the reform to avoid a future deficit in the pension fund, the Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, now seeks to discredit the opposition movement and on Monday described the new union strategy of “irresponsible”.
The last time the French managed to stop a pension reform was in 1995. The unions paralyzed train and metro services for three weeks and managed to maintain massive support in public opinion.
But time is pressing. In the absence of an official majority in Parliament, the government chose a controversial procedure that allows it to apply itif the two chambers have not ruled on it in the same terms by the end of March.
With information from AFP
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