France has been in the grip of an unprecedented protest for several days against the pension reform that the government of Elisabeth Borne forced through the National Assembly by resorting to article 49.3, without going through a vote.
The demonstrations have invaded all of France, which is paralyzed by it, and the authorities have resorted to the strong way, with arrests and police custody, to gag expression and try to stop the bleeding.
Faced with these ” deviations from the maintenance of order, and all unlawful police violence,” the Syndicate of the Judiciary expressed, by means of a press release, its rejection of any interference or instrumentalization of the judiciary, aimed at diverting it to put it at the service of the Executive.
Refusing to leave to use “ to repress the protesters, the Syndicate expressed its condemnation of these practices of a government “unable to carry out a pension reform without resorting to article 49 paragraph 3 of the Constitution”and that “now intends to muzzle the expression of protest by brutally repressing the social movement, born of the impossibility of otherwise making an opposition, however massive, heard”.
« Many rallies have been held since last Thursday across the country to express social anger, while for several weeks thousands of people have been pounding the pavement to challenge the government on the rejection of its reform.recalls the Syndicate, noting that “these movements find as answers a restriction of the freedoms to come and go, of assembly and of expression, as well as the violence of a maintenance of order accompanied by police repression intended to dissuade demonstrators through fear- es to express the lack of popular support for this reform”.
He points out in this regard that “the ban on the demonstration on the Place de la Concorde in Paris on March 18 thus resulted in a multitude of placements in police custody, without elements to characterize an offense”.
“Of 292 arrests, 283 thus gave rise to a classification without further action. This errant use of police custody illustrates the abuses of law enforcement, which diverts the judicial apparatus to put it entirely at its service. further points out the union.
Expressing his condemnation of this policy of repression of the social movement and all the illegal police violence that would have occurred in the last few days”He called “so that they do not remain without follow-up, without waiting for new dramas”.
And in this context worrying which extends beyond the capital and reveals a major social crisis”the union called “the executive power, in strict respect of the separation of powers, to let the judicial authority exercise its function of protecting individual freedom, without interference or instrumentalisation”.
As a reminder, the controversial pension reform project, which notably provides for the raising of the retirement age from 62 to 64, was adopted without a vote, thanks to Article 49.3 of the Constitution which allows the government to engage its responsibility to pass a text of law in the absence of an absolute majority in the National Assembly.