In France, the new protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform have turned violent. The demonstrations in several cities started peacefully today. Later, however, a branch of the bank BNP Paribas was set on fire in Nantes. A car was also set on fire and firecrackers were shot at the police. Another car on fire was reported from Rennes, where roads were also blocked.
Home Secretary Gerald Darmanin had warned that the protests could pose a “very serious threat to public order”. A total of 13,000 police officers were to be deployed during the day.
Unions accused the government of refusing to engage in dialogue on the reform. “It’s unbearable that we’re being blocked,” CFDT boss Laurent Berger said at a demonstration in Paris. Macron’s government initiated the reform with a procedural trick that bypassed parliament, thereby exacerbating popular displeasure.
The Parisian garbage disposal wants to interrupt their strike tomorrow. The union must hold new discussions with the employees in the waste and disposal sector “in order to return to the strike more vigorously (…) because we have almost no strikers left,” said the responsible department of the CGT union. The strike had led to enormous mountains of rubbish on the streets of the French capital, some of which are being fought with excavators.
