Violent protests rock Paris again amid pension reform: ‘We are not going to stop’ – National
Dozens of protesters were arrested in violent clashes Friday night in Paris over French President Emmanuel Macron’s attempt to impose an increase in the country’s retirement age without a vote in the National Assembly. A police officer was injured.
Thousands gathered around a large bonfire in Place de la Concorde as protesters continued to put pressure on Macron’s government, which is set to face a no-confidence motion on Monday. rice field.
As on Thursday night, riot police charged into the crowd and threw tear gas to empty the huge square opposite the National Assembly. Some protesters grabbed wooden planks from a nearby renovation site to arm themselves and hurled fireworks and stones at police.
At least five police officers were injured in the brawl and between 60 and 70 protesters were detained, according to France Info and other local media.
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Photo: Violent protests erupt across France after Macron pushes pension reform
French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin told radio station RTL that 310 people had been arrested the night before, most of them in Paris.
On Friday night, a small group turned away from a major gathering and set fire to streets in nearby areas.
After Saturday dawned, the streets and Place de la Concorde were largely calm.
A police officer stands amid tear gas during a protest in Paris on Friday, March 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly).
(AP Photo/Louis Jolly)
Demonstrators hold placards depicting French President Emmanuel Macron that read ‘Metro, jobs, graves’ during a protest in Paris on Friday, March 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)
(AP Photo/Louis Jolly)
A demonstrator stands amid tear gas during a protest in Paris on Friday, March 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly).
(AP Photo/Louis Jolly)
Mostly small and scattered protests took place in cities across France, from marches in Bordeaux to rallies in Toulouse.
Trade unions, which make up the opposition party, urged demonstrators to keep the peace during further strikes and marches. They called on people to leave schools, factories, refineries and other jobs, and forced President Macron on his plan to make a Frenchman work for two years after he was 64 before receiving a full pension. abandoned by
Macron’s government says the plan is necessary to save the overburdened pension system. But the French public has a strong attachment to keeping the official retirement age at her 62.
“We’re not going to stop. Overwhelming the streets with discontent and refusing to keep their jobs,” he said, “is the only way to bring them down.”
Garbage collectors in Paris have extended their strike for 12 days, and stinking piles of garbage continue to grow in the French capital every day. The sanitation workers’ strike continues to block Europe’s largest incinerator and two of his other incinerators that deal with garbage in Paris.
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Paris streets are piled with garbage during retirement strike
The teachers’ union called for a strike next week that could disrupt the exams at the iconic Baccalaureate High School.
Some of the yellow-vest activists who staged ferocious protests against economic policies during Macron’s first term in office broadcast Friday’s protests in Paris on social media. According to police, the “radicalized yellow vest” is one of the protest march’s troublemakers.
Demonstrators gather next to burning barricades during a protest in Paris on Friday, March 17, 2023. French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to force a bill raising the retirement age from his 62 to his 64 passed parliament without a vote, disrupting traffic and generating garbage . Paris collections and university campuses, as opponents of change maintained their resolve to overthrow the government. (AP Photo/Louis Jolly).
Demonstrators roll wooden cable spools into burning barricades during protests in Paris on Friday, March 17, 2023. Traffic was disrupted as French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to force a bill raising the retirement age from his 62 to his 64 passed parliament without a vote. Garbage collection and university campuses in Paris as opponents of change maintained their resolve to bring down the government. (AP Photo/Louis Jolly).
President Macron has asked Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne to exercise special constitutional powers to avoid a chaotic House of Commons vote, amid concerns that he will not be able to secure majority support for the plan. .
Left-wing and centrist opposition lawmakers introduced a no-confidence motion in parliament on Friday afternoon.
If the no-confidence vote fails, the bill becomes law. A majority vote would end the retirement reform plan and force the government to resign, but Macron could always reappoint Mr Born to nominate a new cabinet.
But demonstrators have revealed that President Macron’s attempt has crossed the line.
Moving forward without a vote is “a denial of democracy … a complete denial of what’s been going on in the streets for weeks,” 52-year-old psychologist Natalie Alquier told Reuters in Paris. It’s intolerable.”
— Using files from Associated Press and Reuters
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
