Rennes

They will not be repeated the “historic” numbers for 2023. While the unions had succeeded in mobilizing more than 10,000 demonstrators in Rennes for the May 1 march, this year only 2,500 (according to the inter-union) and 1,400 ( according to the police) has descended on the streets of Cleunay. area “We will find the solution before 2023,” explained the general secretary of FO 35, Fabrice Lerestif. “But taking around 2,000 people in the middle of a school holiday, in an outlying area without public transport, is still important,” he believes. Same story with the CGT. “We are satisfied with this move. And we have good feedback from people in the neighborhood, who are very happy that we are coming to their home. It shows that we were not wrong,” said the general secretary of CGT 35, Dominique Besson-Milord.

2023, a fantastic year

If 2023 is going to be marked by a white stone, it is because the May 1 demonstration was organized in the heart of the social movement against pension reform, at the initiative of eight main trade union groups in the country. A fact that has never been seen for 15 years. It was even followed by a second march, which brought together around 14,000 people and continued with fights in the center of the city.

This year, there was no pension reform to encourage mobility. And there is no common face: this May 1 is in fact organized at the call of four main groups (CGT, FO, FSU and Solidaires), with also the Confederation of Farmers and the student unions FSE and Union Pirate. For Fabrice Lerestif, “no question of inclusion”. “We must not give up. We are against a government that follows a policy that is a form of manhunt, targeting the most vulnerable, says Monique, a demonstrator. Against this, I don’t want to be alone on my sofa, I want to go to the streets and to the polls”

Family parade

Leaving before 11am from the roundabout of the Leclerc shopping center in Cleunay, the parade proceeded in a relaxed and festive atmosphere through the streets of this popular area in the west of Rennes. Many families made the trip, such as Yann and his three children: “It’s important to be there together. We do it regularly, says the father of the family, even if my older daughters have had a little fear, from the movement against pensions, because of the police and the thugs. »

Along with these families, we found several organizations and gatherings, some of which defend the Palestinian cause. At the head of the demonstration, behind the traditional union flag, the gathering of undocumented immigrants was also present and, later in the demonstration, the workers of the logistics platform Casino in Gaël (35), in danger of closingor the Farmers’ Confederation and its tractor bearing the slogan “Farmers and workers, the same fight”.

What are the demands of all these little people? They are many: protection of wages, opposition to pension reform and future social reforms, peace in Gaza and Ukraine, protection of the climate, fight against the extreme right, taxes on profits more… Along the way, there are several speeches. organized in front of Leclerc supermarket, Sagesse clinic, Cleunay college and Post Office.

After this first march, a second demonstration is planned in Rennes city center on May 1st. Organized by the Solidaires union with other groups (Alternatiba, Uprisings of the Earth, All of Us 35, France-Palestine Solidarities, Permanent Revolution and Le Poing Raised), it will start from the François-Mitterrand center at 2pm. With slogans near the morning show.