Protesters in front of the French National Assembly: “It’s the straw that breaks the camel’s back”

“It was the last straw,” says Corentin, a 28-year-old history and geography teacher who prefers not to reveal his last name. After hearing that French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms would be implemented by decree, he went to Place de la Concorde in Paris to demonstrate. Hundreds of people gathered a few meters from the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, after the government announced the application of article 49.º, nº 3, of the Constitution, which allows the passage of a law without a vote of deputies .

“If they used 49.3, it means that even the members of the assembly didn’t want it,” adds Corentin, referring to the unpopular pension reform that will raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. “It’s an anti-democratic tool,” emphasizes he. Beside him agrees Charlotte Roussel, a 24-year-old student. Both have been demonstrating against the management’s plan for weeks. “We hope that people will revolt even more now,” he explains.

The controversial use of the decree was the talk of the town during the protest, which was attended by many young people and students. In front of a long line of police officers stopping people from crossing the bridge into the congregation, a group shouted: “And whose congregation is this? It’s ours!”. At the exit of the subway, some guards checked the backpacks of people who arrived one by one.

Among the protesters was Alexandra Levard, a 26-year-old architecture student. “They make laws against the majority of citizens. They do not listen to us, despite the large demonstrations that have taken place,” he complained. Behind them, an LDS union van announced over loudspeakers that the next meeting would be March 25. “Macron has been chosen as a barrier against the far right. It should be more modest,” says the university student.

The center leader defeated far-right candidate Marine Le Pen in the second round of the last presidential election in April. But two months later, he lost the absolute majority he had in his first term, despite his deputies being the largest group in the Chamber. Since then, he has had to negotiate text by text on every law he wants to enforce.

Pension reform, her flagship project, didn’t get enough support on Thursday, so she took the express route to pass it. A risky decision that threatens to fuel the massive demonstrations and strikes that have been shaking the country for more than two months. According to polls, two in three French people oppose the bill, which also accelerates the obligation to contribute for 43 years to receive the full pension.

Christine Robieux, 45, referred to those numbers. The poster shows that 68% of the French are against the executive’s plan. “They don’t take our opinion into account. The government is ignoring the opinion of deputies and the people,” he said. “We want a society that is not only guided by financial interests, but by people’s well-being, and that comes from more free time,” he said.

A small group stood out from the crowd, dressed in yellow vests covered in black dates. “These are the dates of all the demonstrations we have seen since 2018,” explains Jean-Claude Gosset, a 63-year-old pensioner. She is part of the yellow vests, a movement that shook French politics in Macron’s first five years and emerged after the executive announced an increase in fuel prices.

“Social security reform is the common denominator of all the problems,” he says. As an example, he mentions the current inflation, but also the “system” that needs to change so that people are “heard more”. On the first ballot, he voted for the left-wing candidate of La France Insoumisa, Jean-Luc Mélenchon. But in the second, more precisely, he chose no one. He felt unrepresented. He did not want to choose between Macron and Le Pen.