The ninth national day of protest against the pension reform, this Thursday, is recording violent incidents in demonstrations in several French cities, including Paris, Rennes, Lyon, Marseille, Nantes and Bordeaux. The situation is especially tense in the capital, with continuous charges by riot police against radical anti-system groups, the black blocs, present in much higher numbers than in previous demonstrations.
This radicalization occurs one day after the interview given by President Emmanuel Macron on television, in which he defended the delay in the retirement age as an unavoidable necessity and warned that he will not renounce the reform, approved by decree by the National Assembly last week.
The high participation in the protests and the more violent turn they have taken shows the rejection of the discontents to Macron’s rigidity and his comments, which many considered contemptuous and offensive, especially when the head of state drew the parallel with the takeover of the Capitol in Washington by the supporters of Trump and of the Parliament of Brasilia by the Bolsonaristas.
In addition to the demonstrations, there have continued to be blockades of public roads, including some highways, access to high schools and universities, as well as refineries and Terminal 1 of the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport, north of the capital.
According to the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), there are 800,000 protesters in Paris this Thursday, a figure that will surely be considerably lowered by the prefecture, although it is obvious that there has been more participation than in the last marches. The general secretary of the CGT, Philippe Martínez, is present, together with the leader of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), the union force with the most affiliates, Laurent Berger. The march has started on the Place de la Bastille and must end on the Place de l’Opéra.
