Tens of thousands of French people against stricter immigration laws

WA few days before an important ruling by the Constitutional Council on the controversial immigration law in France, tens of thousands of opponents of the project took to the streets across the country. According to the Interior Ministry, a total of 75,000 people took part in the demonstrations on Sunday. The CGT union, one of the organizers of the protests, said the number of participants on the online service X, formerly Twitter, was 150,000.

According to the police, 16,000 people took part in a demonstration in Paris, according to the CGT union there were 25,000. “Immigration is an opportunity for France,” read posters. In total, more than 160 protests were planned for Sunday.

More than 200 celebrities, including writers, actors and journalists, called for the protest. They want to put pressure on the government and hope to be able to stop the stricter immigration law that was passed in mid-December with the votes of the entire faction of the right-wing populist Rassemblement National (RN) party. Last Sunday, thousands of people took to the streets against the law.

Discrimination in social benefits

The new law stipulates, among other things, that non-EU foreigners in France can only receive some social benefits after five years of residence.

“As we seek unification and solidarity rather than an endless division of our society, we call on the President of the Republic not to enact this law,” says the call, which was also signed by representatives of several trade unions.

Before the start of the demonstration in Paris, left-wing politicians sharply criticized the government's plan. The law “opened the door to the ideas of the extreme right,” said Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure.

“Without us the country wouldn’t function,” said Mady Cissé, a 59-year-old Senegalese and temporary construction worker. “We are the ones who get up at five in the morning to work on construction, to pick up the garbage (…). We even clean the offices of the prefectures that refuse us papers,” said the temporary resident worker.

In view of the massive headwind, French President Emmanuel Macron admitted that the law had weaknesses and had to be reviewed by the Constitutional Council. He is due to speak out next Thursday.