The challenge to Emmanuel Macron is gaining intensity and violence in France. The ninth national day of protest against the pension reform degenerated yesterday into violent incidents during the demonstrations that took place in several cities, including Paris, Rennes, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes and Bordeaux.
The situation was particularly tense in the capital, with continuous charges from the anti-riots against radical anti-system groups, the black blocs, present in a much higher number than in previous mobilizations. There were classic scenes of urban guerrilla warfare, with smashed shop windows, barricades and burning press kiosks. Violence broke out in other parts of the French geography, for example in Brittany, with riots in Rennes and Lorient. In the latter city the demonstrators were about to set fire to a police station.
This radicalization occurred a day after the interview that Macron gave on television, in which he defended the two-year delay in the retirement age as an inescapable necessity and warned that he will not give up on the reform, approved by decree by the National Assembly last week after months of debate and thousands of amendments.
The high participation in the protests and the more violent nature they have taken is a sign of the disaffected rejection of Macron’s rigidity and his comments, which many considered offensive, especially when the head of state drew the parallel lelism between what is happening in France and the assault on the Capitol in Washington by Trump supporters and the Parliament in Brasilia by the Bolsonarians.
In addition to the demonstrations, there continued to be blockades of public roads, including some highways, access to high schools and universities, as well as refineries and Terminal 1 of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, north of the capital
According to the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), there were 800,000 demonstrators in Paris, a figure lowered to 83,000 by an independent agency that measures this type of concentration. It was evident, however, that participation grew compared to the last marches. The general secretary of the CGT, Philippe Martínez, was there, alongside the leader of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), the trade union force with the most members, Laurent Berger. The demonstration started in Plaça de la Bastille and ended in Plaça de l’Opera.
French analysts agree to underline Macron’s isolation and how difficult it will be for him to resume the initiative to avoid being inactive for the more than four years he has left at the Elysée. The weekly Le Point goes so far as to ask on its cover, in its latest issue, ironically about the pension reform, whether Macron will be a 45-year-old retiree (his age), given the risk of paralysis that threatens him.
It seems increasingly clear that Macron’s decision to resort to an article of the Constitution to approve the reform by decree was reckless. People saw it very badly, as an authoritarian gesture. Even many of his own MPs were left frustrated. The president thought that losing the vote in the National Assembly would have been worse.
Unlike the largely spontaneous yellow vest revolt of 2018, this time the unions play a central role and are able, if they wish, to turn up the pressure even further by paralyzing essential services such as supply of fuel at gas stations. The pulse will continue.
