Thursday evening, thousands of people protested in the streets against the use of 49.3 by the government to pass the pension reform. Damage was committed in several cities.
“Tonight, the country is on fire.” The movement against the pension reform seems to have rocked this Thursday evening, shortly after the announcement by Elisabeth Borne in the National Assembly of the use of article 49.3 of the Constitution to have the text adopted, without a vote. A bill yet ultra-rejected by the French population, according to all opinion studies.
Barely two hours after the use of 49.3, several groups of people began to converge at the call of the Solidaires union towards the Place de la Concorde, denouncing “the executive’s coup de force”.
Several hundred demonstrators joined them: more than 6,000 people were present around 7 p.m., BFMTV learned from a police source.
However, the authorities evacuated the square due to a fire starting at the obelisk restoration site. The demonstration dispersed in the evening and many degradations were committed, with departures of fire: the demonstrators set fire to waste which had not been collected, because of the garbage collectors’ strike. At least 217 people were arrested, according to the prefecture.
Damage in several cities
Incidents also broke out in other cities, in particular in Rennes, where the prefecture mentioned eight arrests and as many police custody at the end of the evening, after multiple degradations and “26 fires extinguished.”
In Nantes, where around 3,000 people gathered in the early evening, according to the police, the atmosphere also deteriorated rapidly, reports AFP. In Marseille on the Canebière, where masked young people smashed the window of a bank branch and an advertising panel while others set fire to garbage cans to cries of “down with the State, the cops and the employers .”
Several hundred demonstrators were also present in Amiens, Lille, Grenoble, Dijon, Le Mans, Strasbourg, Mulhouse, Toulouse, Bordeaux and even Besançon.
“Everywhere the people express their anger”
“Tonight, the country is on fire. Everywhere spontaneous gatherings are organized. Everywhere the people are expressing their anger. Everywhere the squares are filling up. The people are rising,” greets LFI deputy Thomas Portes on Twitter. “People are revolting because it’s 49.3 too many”, analyzes environmentalist Sandrine Rousseau on BFMTV.
The violence was condemned by a large part of the political class, including on the left by Fabien Roussel (PCF). The socialist mayor of Rennes Nathalie Appéré spoke on social networks of “staggering” violence.
“What is happening in Rennes is unacceptable. This urban violence must stop”, added Laurence Maillart (Renaissance).
The inter-union has, for the moment, not reacted to the violence committed this evening in the country. After the announcement of 49.3, she called for a ninth day of mobilization on March 23 and for actions in the regions this weekend.
Darmanin brings together the prefects on Friday morning
But in some cities and some sectors, opponents of the reform will mobilize on Friday morning. In particular, it is planned to block the industrial zone of Le Havre, from 4 a.m.
The use of 49.3 by the government to have the pension reform adopted is “a spit in the face of the workers”, justified Olivier Mateu, secretary of the Departmental Union CGT 13, considering that only the workers “will sign the end of the party by obtaining the repeal of the reform.
A sign that the tension has risen a notch this Thursday evening: the patroness of the Renaissance deputies Aurore Bergé asked the Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin to “mobilize the services of the State” for the “protection of parliamentarians” from the majority.
“I refuse to see deputies from my group, or any deputy of the Nation, being afraid of their individual expression, afraid of voting freely because they would fear reprisals”, wrote Aurore Bergé in a letter to the minister.
According to information from Agence France presse, Gérald Darmanin must bring together the prefects this Friday morning
