“March 2023 is May 1968”?
According to Le Figaro, the commandos of the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité, abbreviated as CRS, which are the general reserve of the French National Police, fired several blank volleys, and in response were “bombarded” with cobblestones and fireworks. . Barricades were erected in front of the police, and protesters were seen climbing over lampposts and even traffic lights, grabbing paving stones from the construction site. A fire broke out near a group of police officers, and bottles and stones were thrown in their direction.
“We’re here!”, “Paris get up!”, “Everyone hates the police!”, chanted some demonstrators. Young hooded protesters erect barricades from barriers, journalist Sylvain Alleman notes in a blog post. Signs read “March 2023 is the new May 68” in reference to the 55-year-old student riots that changed the country.
The police used tear gas. It should be noted that during the detention of a protester, many other people tried to push him back. The demonstrators explained to the tourists that they had to leave the place because “it was about to explode”. At 10:30 p.m. Moscow time, about a dozen people were arrested.
Will the government get a vote of no confidence?
Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 was defeated by the government’s unexpected last-minute exercise of special constitutional powers after two months of coordinated nationwide strikes and some of the largest protests since. decades. The government took this decision after fears that it would not be able to obtain a majority of MPs who would vote in favor. Unions immediately called for a new day of strikes and mass protests next Thursday, March 23, calling the government’s actions a “total denial of democracy”.
On Friday, two votes of no confidence in the government were submitted to the National Assembly (Parliament) of France. The first proposal was made by the LIOT group and signed by the deputies of the Nupes party. The second was filed by the leader of the “National Association” faction Marine Le Pen, reports France Info.
The LIOT group includes 91 people who have signed an agreement from five opposition political parties, said its leader Bertrand Panchet. “Voting for this vote of no confidence is voting against pension reform,” he said in a statement. MPs are outraged that French authorities used Article 49-3 of the country’s constitution, which allowed French President Emmanuel Macron to push through pension reform without a vote in parliament.
Later on Friday, the National Rally faction announced that Marine Le Pen and 87 of her colleagues had cast a second vote of no confidence. “While the French are massively demonstrating their opposition to this reform, the national parliament has never been able to vote for this text which, despite the legitimacy of the process, is a serious attack on democratic principles,” the faction in parliament said in a statement. .
To pass a vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne’s government, you need 287 votes.
