France protests
Al-Arabiya correspondent: 82 protesters were arrested in Paris and more than 130 security men were injured
Al-Arabiya correspondent reported, on Thursday, that 82 protesters had been arrested in Paris and more than 130 security men were injured, in a million-strong demonstration.
The mobilization in protest once morest the reform of the pension system in France maintained its great momentum Thursday, a week following it was approved without a vote in the National Assembly, while this ninth day of action was marked by an increase in the level of violence in the street and it was announced that the movement would continue next week.
The National Action Day, which is the ninth since January, but the first since the French government resorted to a constitutional provision that authorized it to pass the project without a vote on March 16, gathered in more than 300 cities 3.5 million people, according to the CGT union, and 1.08 million according to the police.
Paris witnessed a record number of demonstrators, while mobilization rose nationwide compared to the eighth action day on March 15, when 480,000 people took to the streets across France, according to estimates by the Ministry of the Interior. Unions spoke of a level similar to that recorded on March 7.
However, participation did not reach a record level.
While a source close to the government hoped that the protest movement would “fade” and that “things will return to normal at the weekend,” the French unions called for a tenth day of strikes and demonstrations next Tuesday.
These unions affirmed, “While the executive authority seeks to turn the page, this continuous and responsible labor and trade union movement proves the determination of the work community and youth to reach the withdrawal of reform.”
And she stressed that the demonstrations, strikes and partial work stoppages constitute a “response” to the “incomprehensible intransigence” of French President Emmanuel Macron, considering that the government “bears responsibility for the explosive situation” with the proliferation of violence.
In the evening, Interior Minister Gerard Darmanan announced that 123 gendarmes and policemen had been injured on Thursday, and that more than 80 people had been arrested.
smash interfaces
And Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne considered that the “acts of violence and vandalism” that permeated the demonstrations were “unacceptable.”
“Demonstrating and expressing opposition is a right. However, the violence and vandalism we witnessed today are unacceptable,” she wrote in a tweet, expressing her “thanks to the security forces and ambulance teams.”
Before the start of the Parisian procession, the Secretary-General of the reformist “CFDT” union, Laurent Berger, said that he had noticed an “improvement in mobilization” and called for non-recourse to violence while the protest movement took a more radical turn.
His counterpart in the CGT union, Philippe Martinez, standing next to him, saw that French President Emmanuel Macron “threw a can of petrol on the fire” during an interview he gave on Wednesday, in which he maintained his sometimes sharp stance, reiterating the “necessity” of adopting this reform.
Martinez indicated that the unions sent a letter a few weeks ago to the country’s president to draw his attention to the “explosive situation” in the country.
In Paris, the CGT union announced that 800,000 people took to the streets. Violence quickly erupted at the front of the procession, with stones, bottles and explosives thrown at the security forces, while the facades of shops and bus stations were smashed, and trash bins were set on fire.
Police announced the arrest of 14 people just before 17:00 (1600 GMT).
She said that “regarding a thousand” extremist elements were present in the demonstration, adding that the incidents were confined to a secondary convoy, while the unions’ convoy was progressing “naturally”.
Clashes also took place Thursday in Nantes and Rennes, in western France, between demonstrators and security forces, who responded to stone-throwing by firing tear gas and using water cannons.
Tensions of varying intensity were also recorded in other cities such as Toulouse and Bordeaux in southwestern France and Lille in the north.
anger
In the processions of protesters, determination and anger were palpable, with a great deal of resentment towards the country’s president.
Despite the great opposition to this reform, which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64 years, according to opinion polls, Macron confirmed on Wednesday that the reform will enter into force by the end of the year, with the decline in liquidity in pension funds and the aging of the population.
“I want to thank Emmanuel Macron because, because of his arrogance, he pushes us, whenever he speaks, to carry the flag and demonstrate,” said Fabien Fildieu, a delegate to the SUD-Rail union, before participating in the huge Parisian procession.
In Strasbourg, in the east of the country, Nathalie Chollet, a 47-year-old nurse, said she was demonstrating “in defense” of her future and “to protest Emmanuel Macron’s politics and mock him. I don’t like the way he addresses the French with actual disrespect.”
The processions witnessed a remarkable participation of young people. Classes have been disrupted in the scores of the 3,750 secondary and secondary schools and university institutions in France.
“This matter has symbolic connotations, we want to show our dissatisfaction with this reform,” Radwan, 23, told Asas Law School in Paris, where studies were suspended for the first time since the start of the protests.
“black day”
The protests greatly affected the movement of railways and metro trains in Paris, as the unions had called for a “black day” in this sector.
The Ministry of Energy Transition told AFP that the access of the Paris region and its airports to kerosene was “threatened” due to the strike at the refineries.
She pointed out that the government issued decrees to force the strikers to resume work at the Total Energy refinery in the Normandy region, which stopped work at the weekend last week.
Tourists were affected by the closures of the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe and the Palace of Versailles.
France is one of the European countries that adopt the lowest retirement age, although the retirement systems are not similar and cannot be completely compared.
