After all, according to all polls, more than two-thirds of citizens are opposed to a government bill that they believe will strike at one of the foundations of the welfare system created after World War II. According to the organizers of this action, 700,000 people took part in the march along the city’s boulevards on the Seine. As usual, official authorities gave the figure an order of magnitude lower – just over 80,000.
The demonstrators carried posters that left no doubt about their attitude towards the bill and its main initiator. They were written: “Makron, can’t you hear us?”, “We didn’t vote for that!”.
According to the organizers of this action, 700,000 people took part in the march along the boulevards of Paris.
In total, during the sixth national day of protest actions, approximately three million citizens took to the streets of more than 300 French cities. Even taking into account the count of the local Interior Ministry, which is almost 1.3 million protesters, then this figure is a record since the beginning of a series of mass demonstrations which began in January. Admittedly, this was not done without violent clashes between the police and some fiery demonstrators. In Paris, the skirmishes, which began halfway through the march, continued to their final point – the Place d’Italie. Billboards, bank windows, bus stops and other “street furniture” were smashed along the way. It got to the point where people started tearing down cobblestones, tearing down scaffolding, and it all flew to the police. They responded with tear gas, stun grenades and batons.
As a result, more than two dozen people were arrested in the capital. Something similar happened in other cities. Thus, in Rennes (this is Brittany), types prone to violent action erected barricades, set fire to garbage cans, threw smoke bombs, bottles, bottles of paint. The police even had to use a water cannon to calm them down. It was hot in Lyon, and in Nantes, and in several other cities. It is important to note that the question was not limited exclusively to mass processions. The general strike also affected many sectors of the economy.
Transport workers, nuclear power plant staff, teachers, utility workers were on strike. Three of the four liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals, all oil refineries and, in some places, the road network were blocked. The organizers of this large-scale action bet big on it and, in their deep conviction, they achieved phenomenal success.
“It was a historic mobilization, the most powerful of the last 40-50 years,” said Laurent Berger, president of the French Democratic Federation of Labor (FDLT). Such a result, it must be emphasized, was only possible thanks to the fact that the eight largest trade union centers in the country, both left-wing and more moderate, were able to unite their efforts for a certain time. As the leader of one noted, “we left our differences in wardrobe to form a united front.” Which is understandable: the question of pensions concerns all citizens and, in the first place, the numerous base of the trade unions.
Transport workers, nuclear power plant staff, teachers, utility workers went on strike
Now they are asking the government to drop the bill that caused a real social tsunami in the country. The statement, which was released by the trade union centers after a stormy day of protest, stressed that if this does not happen, then “the strike and the demonstrations will continue”. They also called on the owner of the Elysée to receive their representatives urgently, because “the situation could become explosive”. The unions do not intend to back down and have promised new protest actions on March 11 and 15. Whether the authorities meet them halfway is an open question. As they think here, they can give in. Indeed, in France there was already a situation when, in 1995, the government, which had angered the unions, had to withdraw a similar project, and the then Prime Minister, Alain Juppé, resigned.
In the meantime
The addition of garbage collectors to the protests against pension reform has led to mountains of rubbish starting to grow on the streets of Paris. According to the LCI television channel, around two thousand tonnes of waste have accumulated in the city’s cisterns since the start of the week. There is simply nowhere to destroy them, the works of three waste incineration plants have been stopped. Activists blocked their entrances. The demonstrators threaten to continue their strike until the authorities give up their plan to raise the retirement age to 64 years. It should be noted that in Paris alone three thousand tons of garbage are collected every day, and in Ile-de-France – 15 thousand tons. Only public utilities cannot cope with such a load, so private companies are involved in the work, the employees of which are members of various trade unions. According to representatives of these associations, two more years of work threaten their employees with the fact that people may die before retirement. In addition, garbage collectors are demanding a reduction in the retirement age to 60 because of the arduous nature of their work. According to BFMTV, the garbage collectors’ strike could lead to an invasion of rats which, according to experts, will appear as early as the fourth day.
Prepared by Yuri Kogalov
