France is experiencing a new day of strikes and demonstrations today against the pension reform of President Emmanuel Macron, awaiting the decision of the Constitutional Council on the text. This is the twelfth day of social mobilization since the protests against Macron’s reform began three months ago, which sets the retirement age at 64, two years more than until now.
“It is necessary for (Macron) to withdraw this law, otherwise, he will not be able to lead the country,” Sophie Binet, the new general secretary of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), warned today. Binet considers that Macron’s problem is that he “spends a lot of time in his Falcon, but little on the ground, with the employees, and therefore he is completely disconnected from the needs of the population.”
Macron has been willing to meet with the unions after the decision of the Constitutional Council. Binet believes that if it is to talk about the withdrawal of the pension reform, the unions will come “with great pleasure, if not, we have better things to do.”
A group of protesters symbolically blocked the entrance to the Constitutional Council with garbage cans this morning, one day before they make their decision. The wise must rule on a hypothetical partial or total unconstitutionality of Macron’s reform and on the admissibility of the request to call a shared initiative referendum (RIP) on the issue.
11,500 policemen
The government will mobilize 11,500 police officers and gendarmes throughout the country today, including 4,200 in Paris, a similar number of agents to the April 6 protest.
The French authorities expect that between 400,000 and 600,000 people will protest today in France against the reform, of which between 40,000 and 70,000 in Paris. It is expected that there will be fewer protesters than in previous calls, since the protest coincides with a school vacation period in a third of the country and many French are already tired or resigned to the fact that the reform will take effect.
At the April 6 protest, 570,000 demonstrators protested across France, according to police. The unions then claimed almost 2 million demonstrators.
The prefect of the Paris Police, Laurent Nuñez, explained that the headquarters of the Constitutional Council will be “especially protected” during the Parisian demonstration to prevent it from becoming the target of radical and violent protesters.
Transportation conditions
Transport will be affected today by the strikes, but to a lesser extent than in previous protests. In Paris, traffic on the metro and RER commuter train is expected to be “almost normal” except for a few lines.
The SNCF anticipates that rail traffic will be affected by the stoppages. Four out of five high-speed TGV and Ouigo trains will run and three out of five regional trains. The circulation of Eurostar and Thalys trains with international destinations will be almost normal.
20% of flights at Nantes, Bordeaux and Toulouse airports have been cancelled. On the other hand, the Parisian airports of Orly and Roissy will not be affected today by the strike of air traffic controllers.
The garbage collectors of Paris are back on strike starting today. The General Confederation of Workers (CGT) promises to “transform the streets of Paris into a dump” until the pension reform is withdrawn. In March, the garbage collectors went on strike for three weeks and there were more than 10,500 tons of garbage on the streets of the capital.
#France #protests #pension #reform #pending #decision #Constitutional #Council