Mountains of trash to collect in Parisgatherings once morest the pension reform which are multiplying, strikes in public transport… Such is the French landscape one week before welcoming King Charles III for his first state visit since the beginning of his reign.
This Monday, March 20 in the morning, on France Info, Olivier Besancenot, the spokesperson for the NPA warned, “we are going to welcome him with a good old general strike”.
On social networks, it did not escape the opponents of the reform that the state dinner must be held in Versailles and that the timing is rather “unwelcome”.
In Bordeaux, where the king and his wife Camilla are due to go on Tuesday March 28, the situation is hardly more peaceful. Gatherings are held every day and the calendar until the strike day of Thursday March 23 is quite busy.
The couple is supposed to arrive at 12 p.m. at Saint-Jean station and reach the city center by tram, in a dedicated train, before strolling quickly through town and stopping at the canelé manufacturer Baillardran. After a reception at the town hall, direction Smith Haut-Laffite in Martillac and the burnt forest, in the South-Gironde.
But already, the date has been ticked by the unions, even if the latter recognize that they act “from day to day” or “prioritize actions on pension reform”. “It is almost certain that the king will not be able to take the tram, warns Pascal Mesgueni, CFTC staff representative at TBM. This is a grassroots request. No driver will want to drive it. There will be supervisors or managers to do it, but there will be people on the tracks. And it will have to be protected with vehicles in front and behind. It is a very heavy logistics. Not to mention the risk of projectiles. It’s going to be way too complicated…”
Among his colleagues from the CGT and FO, we expected the result of the vote of the motions of censure at the assembly. “If it is voted, we will continue to mobilize and this visit will be in our sights”, summed up Mathieu Obry (CGT) and Yvan Fort (FO).
The English press which widely covers the demonstrations once morest this reform regularly illustrates its articles photos taken in Bordeaux. The blocking of tracks at Bordeaux station on Friday March 17 did not escape him either. It is precisely in the process that the royal couple must arrive…