According to Agence France-Presse, France has a tradition of marching on May 1 International Labor Day, but because the controversial retirement system reform law was just promulgated two weeks ago, the retirement age will be gradually postponed from the current 62 to 65, making the five The parade became the 13th anti-reform demonstration this year. The eight major labor unions joined hands. The social atmosphere was more tense than previous Labor Days, and the number of participants was larger.
Although the protests on Monday were far from the scale of the 1.3 million people who took to the streets in January this year, due to the joint efforts of the eight major labor unions, all the labor unions unanimously called for the retirement political reform imposed by the government, making this year’s May Day parade even more massive than previous years . Sophie Binet, secretary-general of the CGT union, told reporters that the anger in France had never been greater. Our resolve to withdraw from pension reform has not wavered, and protests are at historic levels. It was a powerful day of action that showed the people’s determination to demand that retirement reforms be rolled back.
It is worth mentioning that this Labor Day parade not only gathered representatives of the eight major trade unions in France, but also labor rights activists, environmental activists, economic justice activists and other groups from South Korea, Switzerland, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, the United States and other countries. International activists made a special trip to Paris to join the parade, expressing their indignation at “under the international environment of economic downturn, national leaders are out of touch with people’s livelihood”.
Biney said: “This is also an international protest. Nearly a hundred trade union members from all over the world have joined us to support us. Contrary to the government’s thinking, as long as the pension reform is not withdrawn, we will not let this matter turn around.”
According to reports, most of the protests held that day were peaceful, and the marchers held banners with slogans such as “retire before arthritis”, “retire at 60, freeze prices” and “Macron, step down”. Demonstrators say France is in deep crisis of democracy and threatens to become a modern dictatorship.
However, there were still violent protests in the capital Paris. Some protesters smashed shops, threw petrol bombs and fireworks at the police, burned construction materials, and smashed bus stops. The video footage of the French BFM TV station showed that individual violent demonstrators attacked firefighters who came to put out the fire and snatched fire extinguishing equipment. Riot police on guard along the route threw tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, brought the situation under control and arrested the suspects.
Violence also erupted in Lyon and Nantes, with cars burned and businesses damaged. In the southern city of Toulouse, police officers fired tear gas, water cannon and returned fire with batons.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin (Gerald Darmanin) said in an interview with French news station BFM-TV that 782,000 people participated in demonstrations across France that day, of which 112,000 were in the capital Paris (24,000 last year); A total of 540 people were arrested across the country, of which 305 were in Paris; 406 people were injured by the police, of which 259 were injured in Paris and 32 were sent to hospital.
Macron’s approval ratings have fallen to near record lows after weeks of protests over a decision to raise the retirement age by two years, threatening to paralyze his reform agenda and render him a lame man, Reuters said. duck.
The French leader, who should be aware of the unprecedented crisis he faces in power, has embarked on a nationwide PR campaign, with weekly visits to different towns and villages across France, showing that he is out of the public eye for much of the pensions debate Subsequent changes in communication strategies.
But whether it’s a charming village on the mainland or a remote Mediterranean town, the reaction has been the same: anger, accusations, boos and pot-knocking.
Reuters pointed out that Macron, who cannot be re-elected in 2027, needs to cool the political temperature so that he can negotiate a deal with unions on pay and working conditions in the coming months, while also preventing far-right leader Marilyn Le Pen. Le Pen exploits discontent to profit in future elections.
Macron’s approval ratings are near the lows seen during the yellow vest crisis, according to a poll by pollster Ifop conducted one year after his re-election and just days after he signed the pension reform into law. Among them, the proportion of voters who are “very dissatisfied” with the president reached 47% in April, an increase of 7 percentage points within a month, setting a record high in the detailed analysis of public opinion.
“We can observe that almost one in two French people genuinely reject retirement reform,” said Ifop’s Frederic Dabi. And, over the past six years, Macron has inflamed popular anger with a series of alleged faux pas and vitriolic remarks that have perpetuated the impression among the public that the president is arrogant.
But some government officials said the “hatred” did not seem very plausible given Macron’s positive record on the economy, with unemployment falling to the lowest level in 15 years, inflation the lowest in Europe and the economy so far emerging from recession .
#protesters #marched #France #1st #Macron #faced #unprecedented #ruling #crisis
2023-05-03 17:20:45
