• France Macron approves by decree his controversial pension reform and opens a crisis

Unions staged blockades in Paris on Friday after a night of unrest in the capital and many other French cities against pension reform adopted by decree by the government of President Emmanuel Macron, for lack of a sufficient majority of deputies.

Dozens of people with banners and badges of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) occupied from shortly after 7.00 in the morning (06.00 GMT) some roads of the peripheral (the ring road of Paris) at the height of the Glignancourt Gate, which caused traffic jams.

"That should not be done. There are democratic weapons of contestation," Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin replied in an interview with RTL radio in which he insisted that throughout the movement against pension reform, union demonstrations have been allowed and organized, which have developed with hardly any incident.

Last night, however, after the activation of article 49.3 of the Constitution by the Government to skip the vote in the National Assembly and adopt this reform by decree, the incidents multiplied for hours in Paris, as well as in Marseille, Nantes, Rennes, Lyon and other cities of the country.

Darmanin said that although "there were no serious incidents" because there were no serious injuries, law enforcement had to act and carried out 310 arrests, including 258 in Paris.

The minister explained that in Rennes, Albi, Marseille or Paris, some of those who participated in these spontaneous demonstrations tried to attack official buildings and representative offices of politicians of the Macronist bloc.

In the capital there were scenes of barricades and fires with the mountains of garbage that have accumulated in half of the districts of the city by the strike of the collection workers for a dozen days.

In this regard, the head of Interior explained that the Prefecture of Paris (government delegation) has activated the obligation of work for some of these strikers for health reasons, after a scuffle with the socialist mayor, Anne Hidalgo, who had refused to do so.

Regarding the garbage collection strike, "what is not acceptable is the unhealthiness," and "as the mayor has not wanted to assume her responsibilities," the prefecture has done so, he explained.

By 15.00 local time (14.00 GMT), which is the deadline, the opposition will present at least two motions of censure against the government of Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, which in principle do not have much chance of succeeding.

But if any of them obtained a majority in the Assembly, Borne and his Executive would fall and the political crisis could lead to an early call for legislative elections.

The unions, which remain united in their opposition to the reform, called on Thursday for the multiplication of protest actions at the local level during this weekend, and have called a ninth day of strikes and national demonstrations on Thursday next week.

The head of the CGT in the railway sector, Laurent Brun, said today in an interview with the radio station France Info that the objective is "that the economy is paralyzed" and for that "we must multiply the strikes."

According to The Trust Project criteria

Learn more

  • Paris