The head of state, on the move this Wednesday in the Bas-Rhin to mark a new chapter in his five-year term after the pension reform, was copiously booed and arrested during a walkabout.
“There are people who greet, who are happy, and people who are not happy”. The President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron briefly reacted to the microphone of BFM Alsace after being booed copiously during a walkabout this Wednesday in Sélestat (Bas-Rhin).
For his first trip to the territory since the promulgation of the pension reform, which continues to be mostly rejected by a majority of French people, the Head of State wanted to defend his government’s reindustrialization policy. But the people present to welcome him expressed their firm opposition to the reform which provides for the postponement of the legal retirement age to 64 years.
“All people must be able to express themselves freely. Afterwards, the country must also move forward and we must continue to progress,” added Emmanuel Macron at the microphone of BFM Alsace.
The president, who has increased his travels abroad in recent months, has already been arrested by young demonstrators last week during a visit to The Hague (Netherlands). Proof that turning the page on the social and political crisis of the country is more complicated than what the President of the Republic expected.
Pots and pans concert for Minister Christophe Béchu
And he is not the only one among the members of the executive to find himself confronted with the protest movement. This was also the case this Wednesday for the Minister of Ecological Transition Christophe Béchu.
Traveling to Coulaines, near Le Mans (Sarthe), to discuss the prevention of forest fires, he was welcomed this afternoon by a concert of pots and songs of yellow vests. Footage captured by the political organization Révolution Permanente shows protesters kept away from the minister but booing the latter as a group.
Welcoming committees for several ministers
This day Wednesday resembles in many respects that of Tuesday for the government. The Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and Disabled People Jean-Christophe Combe was welcomed at the CAF (family allowance fund) in Paris with whistles and popular song We are here! intoned by demonstrators.
At the same time, a welcoming committee was formed in front of the University of Paris-Saclay where – according to demonstrators – the Minister of Higher Education and Research Sylvie Retailleau was to inaugurate a new building. According to our colleagues from HuffPost, the university actually invited the minister for this inauguration. Invitation declined due to scheduling problems according to Paris-Saclay, while the minister’s office assures the pureplayer that no such trip was announced.
Exchanges with opponents for Lescure and Braun
And Monday was no different. The Minister Delegate for Industry Roland Lescure had exchanged under police escort – before his visit to the Duralex factory in La Chapelle-Saint-Mesmin (Loiret) – with demonstrators opposed to the pension reform.
“We are at the beginning of the end of the retirement sequence and at the beginning of the aftermath”, explained the minister this Wednesday evening on BFMTV, referring to a “period of transition” for the country.
Same scene for the Minister of Health François Braun who, on leaving Langon hospital in Gironde where he announced an investment for the renovation of the hospital center, discussed with demonstrators under boos, calls for resignation and the withdrawal of the text.
The Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye, challenged last week by Dominik Moll who received the César des Lycéens, was also welcomed in Reims by opponents of the pension reform. Traveling to discuss the learning holidays, the minister had to arrive through the back entrance of the college which received him according to our colleagues from France Blue.
A conference with Minister Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo canceled
A climate of tension that disrupts the agendas of ministers. Latest announcement: the cancellation of a conference scheduled for Thursday in Dijon with the Minister Delegate for Territorial Organization and Health Professions Agnès Firmin-Le Bodo and focused on the end of life has been canceled. A decision taken “following serious and proven threats of trade union origin and in connection with the movement against pension reform”, according to Renaissance deputy Didier Martin, at the initiative of the evening.
Emmanuel Macron announced Monday – during his speech to the French – a period of “100 days of appeasement, unity, ambition and action in the service of France”. If the executive intends to display its ambition and its action “on the rest” in the coming weeks, it is clear that the images of appeasement and unity of the country will wait.
