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PARIS: A total of 457 people were arrested and 441 security forces were injured on Thursday during nationwide protests against French President Emmanuel Macron’s pensions reform, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
Speaking to the CNews channel on Friday morning, Darmanin also said that there had been 903 fires lit in the streets of Paris during by far the most violent day of protests since they began in January.
On Thursday, French unions held more strikes, a day after Macron went on television to insist he won’t back down and likened protesters to the rebels who stormed the US Capitol.
Ground transportation, flights and refineries were impacted as anger over raising the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62 shows no sign of receding more than two months after the start of a series of walkouts and marches.
In perhaps the most visible sign of the movement, thousands of tonnes of trash have piled up on the streets of Paris, rendering some sidewalks impassable. Garbage collectors plan to continue the strike through Monday.
The ninth day of action against the pension overhaul saw 1.09 million people turn out across the country, according to the Interior Ministry.
The portion of public-sector workers joining in walkouts was up sharply on Thursday from a week earlier, though well below its peak on the first day of protests in mid-January, preliminary government figures showed.
Macron, who had largely left his prime minister, Elisabeth Borne, to bear the brunt of pushing the pension reform through parliament, appeared on French TV on Wednesday and argued the overhaul is needed for the sake of public finances.
He further stoked outrage on the streets and on social media when he compared protesters to those who stormed the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and those who invaded the Brazilian parliament last year. His mistake was that he didn’t manage to convince the French people, he said.
The president added: “We cannot accept rebels and factions.”
Polls suggest most French people oppose the plan to raise the retirement age, backing labor unions, which are especially critical of the decision to use a constitutional provision that allowed him to bypass a vote in the National Assembly.
“Macron doesn’t listen to anybody. He acts like a monarch,” said Marc Stalin, a member of the CGT union and retired railways worker who participated in Thursday’s protest. He vowed to continue demonstrating. “There is no other option.”
Survey says protests legitimate
A Harris Interactive survey of 1,100 adults carried out on March 17-20 for Challenges magazine shows 61 per cent consider it legitimate to pursue strikes after he resorted to the so-called Article 49.3.
Even among those who want Macron to back down, there’s little hope that he’ll change course, however. A survey of 1,007 adults carried out by pollster Ifop on March 21-22 for Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper showed 79% think the government won’t abandon the reform in the face of further protests.
Olivier Marleix, the head of the conservative Republicans in the lower house of parliament, urged Macron to start talks with unions, adding that while he backed the gist of the pension reform the French leader should change his behavior.
The president, who has repeatedly pledged he would change his ruling style to better include grassroots forces, has seen his popularity sink to the lowest level since the Yellow Vest protests in early 2019, according to an Ifop poll for Le Journal du Dimanche, with a satisfaction rate of just 28 per cent.
Demonstrations have burst out sporadically since Monday, with the Interior Ministry saying hundreds of people were arrested this week. Agence-France Presse reported clashes with police on Thursday in some cities in western France.
Macron has so far ruled out snap elections, reshuffling his government or amending the reform to quell tensions.
“We aren’t seeing any attempt or dream to gain power or to change the government: It’s an opposition movement,” said Michel Wieviorka, a French sociologist who has worked on social movements. “There’s thirst for democracy and opposition to a world organized by technocrats, and anger from the feeling of being despised.”
Police officers detain a person during anti-pension reform demonstrations in Rennes, France, March 23, 2023 in this screen grab obtained from a social media video. Twitter @DHR_Damien/via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. MANDATORY CREDIT. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. REFILE - CORRECTING YEARImage Credit: via REUTERSView gallery as list