At least 100 arrests took place this Saturday evening during anti-government protests in France against the decree approving the pension reform, which raises the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64.
However, this number is lower than the previous days. Thursday night, a few hours after the reform was passed, there were more than 200 arrests across the country.
This new type of protest, organized outside parties and unions, is more volatile and unpredictable. The number of mobilizations this Sunday is currently unknown.
This Saturday in Paris, 81 people were arrested at the end of a demonstration on the Place d’Italie, a place chosen instead of the Place de la Concorde, where the authorities had banned any protest because of the riots of the past nights. They were joined by dozens of others who had been arrested in the Plaza de la Concordia itself.
At the end of the march, during which slogans against Macron’s “authoritarianism” were heard, containers were set on fire and barricades were erected. Police responded with tear gas to the firing of projectiles by some demonstrators.
It is estimated that at least 4,000 participants gathered at Place d’Italie. In Lyon, 17 were arrested during a small protest of between 400 and 500 people.
Meanwhile, the pension reform further lowered the popularity of French President Emmanuel Macron in March, and currently only 28% of French people approve of his management, the lowest level of his mandates comparable to that of the “yellow vests” crisis “. the popular uprising that cornered him in 2018.
The Executive shows no signs of withdrawing. His runner-up, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire, assured in an interview in Le Parisien that the reform “will come into effect” and warned that no form of violence will be “tolerated” at the protests.
The government itself faces two motions of censure on Monday, tabled by a group of centrists and regionalists supported by the left and another by the far right.
However, both initiatives have little chance of success, should the conservative formation Los Republicanos (LR) manage to maintain the voting discipline they failed to achieve on the 16th when the executive, in a relative minority, was forced to enforce Article 49.3 due to the lack of a clear majority in the Assembly.
The union strikes against the reform continue. Several refineries are blocked and the interruptions in waste collection in Paris are palpable.
Despite the fact that the government has mandated the return of some workers for health reasons, thousands of tons of rubbish still accumulate on the sidewalks.
The Paris city council, which supports the strike and does not cooperate with the government, estimated that the amount of waste has stabilized at 10,000 tons.
Source: El heraldo
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
