Amiens (AFP)

Emmanuel Macron's second day of visit Friday in his hometown of Amiens looks harsh, the former employees of Whirlpool being determined to "demand accountability" on the liquidation of the buyer, in full social tension before the Strike day of December 5th.

This is his first visit to Amiens since a short trip in October 2017 that followed the inter-presidential run of 2017, both marked by the fate of the former factory Whirlpool, one of main industrial sites of the city.

Some former employees of the factory marched on Thursday, with "yellow vests", high school students, CGT activists and Sud-Solidaires in the city center. In total, a hundred or so demonstrators tried Thursday to join the Citadel where the head of state inaugurated the site of the university but were blocked by law enforcement.

"We were just asking for a delegation, we were not going to do anything!", Indignant Frederic Chanterelle, delegate CDFT ex-Whirlpool, denouncing the "big swindle" of the recovery of 162 former employees by WN, which ended by the liquidation of this company in August, for lack of commercial opportunities.

Five months after his election, Emmanuel Macron proudly visited the factory with a buyer, largely helped by the state, which was to save some of the jobs. Two years later, it is the liquidation of WN, the company chosen to take over the site, now a "ghost factory", according to Patrice Sinoquet, representing CFDT.

"We will ask him to account!" Warned the ex-employees.

"In #Whirlpool, #Macron will contemplate the fiasco of his politics: the one that puts no limit to the wild globalization and abandons the French industry," tweeted his opponent in the presidential Marine Le Pen, who had defied Emmanuel Macron at Whirlpool in between-laps.

"It was I who asked to see them," said the head of state at Courrier Picard. "Like them I believed in it, like them I was disappointed," he said, acknowledging a failure.

The other child of the country, the deputy LFI of the Somme, François Ruffin, accused him of the president coming to Amiens to "launch the campaign" of the outgoing mayor Brigitte Fouré (UDI), supported by LREM despite the opposition of some local officials of the majority.

- "Country too negative" -

For his first day, Emmanuel Macron praised the merits of France, regretting a "too negative country." "We have the impression if we listen to each other collectively, if we plug the radio or turn on the TV , that everything is terrible (...) At the moment our country is, I think, too negative for itself, "said the head of state in answering questions from students at the inauguration of the new site. the University of Amiens.

He again deplored the "violence in the street", after those in universities and for the first anniversary of "yellow vests". "There is no freedom without public order in the street, there is freedom to protest, there is freedom to express one's opinion, but there is no freedom to break", he insisted.

However, he acknowledged that the desperate act of a 22-year-old student, who tried to set himself on fire in Lyon, illustrated the "difficulties" of some students "to find shelter, to warm themselves, sometimes to feed themselves" .

But when "we talk about student conditions, let's compare France to other countries," he added to some 200 students. Insisting on the measures taken since the beginning of the five-year period, such as the abolition of 217 euros of contributions to student social security. This is significantly higher than the decline of five euros APL "(Aids custom housing), he recognized hang out" like a ball ".

He will look into improving rail services in the Somme, with the new CEO of SNCF, Jean-Pierre Farandou he meets early in the morning. And it should announce the finalization of funding, valued at five billion euros, the Seine-North channel, designed to facilitate the transport of goods between the Benelux countries and the Paris region. Opening planned in a decade.

© 2019 AFP