The French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, has asked the prefects this Friday to take extreme measures to ensure public order, protect official buildings and guarantee the physical integrity of parliamentarians and state representatives. This alert occurs before the outbreak of social anger that has led to the approval by decree, without a vote in the National Assembly, of the unpopular pension reform.
After a night of acts of violence and riots in several cities, this Friday there were again spontaneous demonstrations and roadblocks in Paris, Rennes, Bordeaux, Rouen, Brest and other cities. The capital’s peripheral highway has been temporarily cut at various points.
The unions plan to continue the mobilizations and strikes in key sectors such as refineries and railways. A new day of strike and protest marches at the national level are called for next Thursday.
The press is unanimous in considering that Macron’s decision to approve the pension reform using an emergency constitutional instrument, article 49.3, was very risky. According to Le Monde, the president “has played with fire.” For Libération, Macron is to blame for the aggravation of the political and social conflict because he “has broken all the eggs he had in the fridge but has not managed to make an omelette”, and has placed himself in a situation of flagrant “impotence”. Le Figaro emphasizes on its cover that the Government is “weakened and isolated”.
Three motions of censure will be presented in the National Assembly in the next few hours. One of them, by the centrist Charles de Courson, will have a transversal character. This attempt to overthrow the government is given little chance of success. However, many rumors are circulating about a possible reshuffle of the Executive and even the departure of the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, in the coming weeks. It would be an attempt by Macron to find a scapegoat and take the pressure off himself.
Given this tense environment and the obvious security risk they are running, several ministers have announced that they are canceling planned trips.
In addition to ordering more police surveillance, Darmanin took the decision to legally force Paris garbage collectors back to work to collect the more than 10,000 tons of waste accumulated by the strike. It is not easy, however, to implement the measure because the mayoress of Paris herself, the socialist Anne Hidalgo, is in solidarity with the strikers.
