French protests intensify against pension age rise
-
Loading... - Remi Cartier
- 02 Feb 2023
- 59 Views
- 0 Like
- 0 Comment
Anti-government corteges were as loud and as big, if not louder and bigger than on the first day of action.
The interior ministry said more than 1.27 million people protested, a higher figure than 12 days ago.
Eight key unions took part in the strike, which disrupted schools, public transport and oil refineries.
The CGT trade union said half a million protesters had gathered in Paris alone, although authorities put the number at 87,000, and the union put the total number across France as high as 2.8 million.
But for all the mass mobilisation, it is still far from clear if the protesters can force Mr Macron to back down. The government can withstand any number of "days of action" like this so long as they take place along the predictable and orderly lines that they have so far.
Mr Macron's government is pushing ahead with its pension age reforms in the face of opinion polls that suggest two-thirds of voters are opposed to the changes, which begin their passage through the National Assembly next week.
Without a majority in parliament, the government will have to rely on the right-wing Republicans for support as much as the ruling parties' own MPs.
Hours before the main protest began in the Place d'Italie in central Paris, thousands of marchers turned out in Toulouse, Marseille and Nice in the south, and Saint Nazaire, Nantes and Rennes in the west.
A reported 11,000 police were deployed to cover the demonstrations taking place in more than 200 towns and cities. Some skirmishes were reported at the end of the Paris route in Place Vauban and 30 people were arrested. The interior minister praised police for their handling of the protests.
"Mr Macron is certain to lose," far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon told reporters in Marseille. "Nobody wants his reforms, and the more the days go by, the greater the opposition to them."
Karima, 62, held up a placard in Paris highlighting that the government's plans hurt women far more than men: "Lots of us already have broken careers and will have to work even longer than men in order to have a full pension." Read More…
