Two masked demonstrators in the Parisian procession, February 4, 2021. -

Thomas SAMSON / AFP

" Mask.

e but not muzzled ”… Thousands of demonstrators, some of them wearing this motto on the mask, marched this Thursday in France, at the call of the CGT, the FSU, Solidaires and youth organizations, to defend jobs and public services, even in times of epidemic.

Students, energy specialists, teachers, caregivers, many professions met Thursday on this slogan, braving a health context unfavorable to mobilizations, by the admission of the unions.

Intermittents from the show were also present to demand an extension of the “white year”.

The "tip of the iceberg"

The Parisian demonstration, strong of 20,000 demonstrators according to the CGT, 4,800 for the police headquarters, shook around 2:30 pm from the Place de la République in the direction of that of the Nation, behind a banner proclaiming "jobs, wages, time of work, pensions… Let's relaunch the social ”.

It arrived shortly after 4 p.m. at Place de la Nation, after having taken place in peace.

The union order service had been expanded, bringing together 200 people, two to three times more than usual for a national demonstration according to the CGT.

“There are employees who say that they will not come because there is the health context.

This is not why the anger and the mobilizations are not up to par, ”CGT Secretary General Philippe Martinez, at the head of the procession, told reporters.

"We are in a dynamic that may seem slow in a period when everything is complicated" but the demonstration is "the tip of the iceberg in terms of social anger", explained Simon Duteil, co-delegate general of Solidaires .

165 events planned in France

The month of January was punctuated by several sectoral mobilizations, with some success according to the unions: health professionals on the 21st, from the National Education on the 26th, from the energy sector on the 28th. And in their joint press release, the organizers had announced on Monday that they would meet "next week to follow up on these mobilizations".

In total, more than 165 initiatives were planned across France - gatherings, demonstrations, employment offices.

In Marseille, 2,800 people according to the police demonstrated.

In Bordeaux, they were 850, still according to the police.

In Nantes, 2,500 people demonstrated according to the CGT, 1,700 according to the police, in Lyon 3,000 according to the organizers, 1,600 for the police, in Saint-Etienne 1,200 people according to the CGT, 460 according to the police, in Roanne 250 (200 according to the police).

In Rennes, 1,500 according to the CGT, 1,100 according to the police, marched behind a banner “For employment, employees and social progress”.

Between 400 and 500 people demonstrated in Strasbourg according to the police and the CGT, several hundred in Lille.

The "Sanofric" example

The CGT and its partners advocate a policy of "industrial relocation", the sharing of working time, the "development of public services", the prohibition of layoffs in companies benefiting from public aid "especially when they continue to free up profits ”, detailed with AFP Céline Verzeletti, confederal leader of the CGT.

Among the most salient examples of recently announced job protection plans (PSE), that of Sanofi, where 364 jobs are to be cut within the Sanofi-Aventis Research and Development entity, according to the unions.

Philippe Martinez went Thursday morning to the group's site in Vitry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne) to provide support to employees, wearing a blouse denouncing "Sanofric".

A rally was also organized in front of the group's headquarters in Paris.

Society

EDF: Agents and deputies demonstrate against the Hercules project in front of the National Assembly

Health

Toulouse: On indefinite strike, the staff of the operating rooms of the CHU shows their fed up

  • Demonstration

  • Employment

  • Union

  • Society