2023-04-29 19:02:00
“From Nantes to Toulouse, for Macron it’s a red card!” Before the final of the Coupe de France football, Saturday at the Stade de France, dozens of union activists undertook to distribute to the supporters of the two teams enough to whistle the President of the Republic, for his pension reform.
At the exit of the metro and RER stations which serve the sports enclosure, the activists, a string of red whistles around their necks, harangue travelers with well-rehearsed slogans.
“And a whistle for Macron, one!” chants Jonathan in a barker tone. “We have contributed, we have the right to rest this evening!”, He proclaims with a cheerful air, handing travelers leaving the RER station plastic whistles and flyers crossed out with the slogan “red card to retire at age 64”.
Through this initiative, the inter-union, still standing once morest the recently enacted pension reform, wanted to take advantage of the Head of State’s visit to the Stade de France to encourage spectators to question him, if possible 49 minutes and 30 seconds following the start of the match.
While advancing briskly towards the stadium, most supporters gladly grab the card and the whistle. And those who don’t keep a sense of humor: to an activist who challenges him by shouting “Red card for Macron!”, a Nantes supporter replies “Yellow card, rather”, proudly wearing her jersey in the colors of FC Nantes.
For a young supporter of Nantes, it is necessary “to dissociate politics and football”.
But overall, “it’s going pretty well, people tend to agree with us,” says Jonathan, a 37-year-old territorial civil servant and activist at the FSU.
To the tune of “yellow vests”
“I also had negative reactions, a gentleman even answered me ‘green card for Macron!'”, he concedes. Conversely, “some take selfies with the red card”, laughs the thirty-something.
When an imposing crowd of Toulouse supporters left the station, duly equipped with purple scarves, the trade unionists shouted “Macron, resign!”, or grew bolder to the tune of “yellow vests”, which became “Even if the prefect does not want it, we are here!”
Because the prefect of police of Paris, Laurent Nuñez, tried Friday to prohibit the distribution of leaflets and whistles around the stadium, claiming to fear disturbances to public order.
A few hours before kick-off, the administrative justice proved him wrong: it suspended his banning order, seeing it as a “serious and manifestly illegal attack on the freedom to demonstrate”.
While authorizing all of the union action, the administrative court did not however challenge the ban on whistles inside the Stadium, which falls under the regulations of the French Football Federation.
And in fact, once past the entrance, “we collect all the whistles”, slips a security manager. Even the red cards: a young supporter of Nantes, who had undertaken to distribute a bundle of them in the stands, had them confiscated. “I have instructions,” commented the steward. “I’m like you, I’m once morest retirement at 64, but I’m doing my job”.
Whatever happens, in the 49th minute, “even without a whistle, we are able to make noise,” says Marco, a 23-year-old engineer who came to support Toulouse. For his partner Emilie, 24, “we have the right, at the very least, to whistle a president who does not listen to his people”.
Macron greeted the players in the halls of the Stade de France
Note that Emmanuel Macron greeted the players of the Nantes and Toulouse teams on Saturday evening a few minutes before the kick-off of the final of the French Football Cup, in the corridors of the Stade de France and not on the front lawn. the meeting, according to the images of the broadcasters.
Against a backdrop of social tension and high security vigilance, the President of the Republic shook hands with all the players in this final a quarter of an hour before kick-off at 9:00 p.m.
Accompanied by the interim president of the French Football Federation (FFF) Philippe Diallo, the Head of State addressed a few words to the actors of the meeting.
“Good final to you”, “try to enjoy it too”, “good match”, he notably launched. “We are wholeheartedly with you”, slipped the president of FC Nantes Waldemar Kita.
In recent years, Emmanuel Macron had become accustomed to coming to greet the players on the lawn, but the protocol was modified for this edition, while, as presented above, several unions distributed red cards and whistles to spectators around the stadium to demonstrate their rejection of the pension reform.
“While whistles are part of a certain folklore at the Stade de France, the President of the Republic has always respected the tradition of saluting players which he reinstated (in 2017) and will therefore greet players before they enter the stadium. grass”, had explained the entourage of the head of state earlier on Saturday.
The President of the Republic must also return the cup to the stand at the end of the match, and not from the lawn, as has been the practice for three years and the Covid-19 crisis.
Emmanuel Macron’s entourage also deplored “the desire of certain political and union leaders to orchestrate an event aimed at diverting the attention of the evening either from the players, the match, the cup, sportsmanship and festive but on a political fight”.
1682804722
#Nantes #Toulouse #Macron #red #card #French #president #fire #critics #Coupe #France #final #PHOTOS