Las refinery strikes continued in France on Saturday with more demonstrations taking place across the country amid anger at the government for pushing for an increase in the state retirement age without a parliamentary vote.
The growing unrest, combined with the garbage that accumulates in the streets of Paris after the garbage workers join the actionhas left President Emmanuel Macron with the most serious challenge to his authority since the so-called “Gilets Jaunes” (Yellow Vests) protests in December 2018.
Around the 37% of operational staff from TotalEnergies refineries and warehouses – in places like Feyzin in south-eastern France and Normandy in the north – they were on strike on Saturday, a company spokesman said. Also, strikes on the railways continued.
Friday night, riot police clashed with protesters in the Place de la Concorde in Paris, near the headquarters of the National Assembly, and arrested 61 people, according to Ámbito.
The Paris Prefecture banned gatherings on Saturday in the Place de la Concorde and in the nearby Champs Elysées. However, another concentration was planned in the Plaza de Italia, in the south of the capital.
Elsewhere in Paris, a group of students and activists from the “Permanent Revolution” collective briefly invaded the Forum des Halles shopping mall, waving banners calling for a general strike and shouting “Paris on your feet, get up”, according to videos on social networks.
BFM television also showed images of demonstrations in cities such as Compiegne (north), Nantes (west) and Marsella (sur). “There is no place for violence. Parliamentary democracy must be respected,” the Minister of Digital Transition and Telecommunications, Jean-Noel Barrot, told Radio Sud.
A broad alliance of the main French trade unions He has declared that he will continue to mobilize to try to force a change in direction of the reform. A day of mobilizations throughout the country is scheduled for Thursday.
