The author of the contentious message, Thomas Portes, was given the heaviest disciplinary sanction for a deputy, the same as Grégoire de Fournas (RN), author of comments deemed racist in November.

The Insoumis, girded with his tricolor scarf, was staged Thursday on the social network, his foot resting on a ball bearing the image of the Minister of Labor, who brings the reform to the Assembly.

Despite requests from the presidential camp, he refused to apologize on Friday, causing an uproar.

The session was suspended, the office of the Assembly, the highest collegiate body, met and asked for its "temporary exclusion" due to "contempt" or "provocation".

This disciplinary penalty, validated by a seated-standing vote in the hemicycle, entails a ban on appearing at the Palais Bourbon for fifteen days of sittings, i.e. until mid-March, and the deprivation of half of the parliamentary allowance for two month.

Examination of the pension reform at the National Assembly, February 7, 2023 in Paris © Ludovic MARIN / AFP / Archives

Defending a "right to caricature and satire" with this tweet, Mr. Portes' colleagues strongly protested.

"You are looking for the Insoumis, you will find them", launched Danièle Obono at the majority.

"We won't let anything pass. No threat, no intimidation," camped Aurore Bergé (Renaissance).

Marine Le Pen (RN), who fights like the left retired at 64, estimated that Nupes is in a "leak forward" in its fight.

"instrumentalized"

Mr. Portes does not budge: "I have never called for violence", he assured the press, deploring that his message was "used and instrumentalized by some".

"I will withdraw my tweet the day you withdraw your reform which will sacrifice thousands of people", had challenged the Insoumis in the hemicycle.

"What we are currently seeing (...) with our invectives, with our insults, with hubbub, (is) not worthy of the National Assembly", declared the holder of the perch, Yaël Braun-Pivet, at the after a week of laborious discussions.

"We will not be silent", assured the president of the LFI group Mathilde Panot, pointing to a sanction for "intimidating at a time when the social movement is hardening".

"No one here wants there to be a tweet police."

The boss of the Insoumis Jean-Luc Mélenchon also defended his deputy on Twitter: "After the pillory for Thomas Portes, railroad deputy, Macron will ban all the upheavals in the celebrations of the country".

Within the Nupes, if the tweet of Mr. Portes was variously appreciated, the sanction is considered far too severe.

"We contest the parallelism that has been made" with the case of Grégoire de Fournas, protested the communist Pierre Dharréville.

The morning at the Assembly had passed without too many pitfalls.

By a relatively tight vote (181 votes against 163), the deputies validated article 1 of the bill, providing for the extinction of most special regimes.

The index on the employment of seniors was on the evening's menu.

Tensions resurfaced when Mr. Dussopt asked environmentalist Sandrine Rousseau not to "harangue" him, which the latter described as "sexist".

"I consider it an insult" and "that's a lot in terms of personal attacks", exclaimed the minister.

Some 16,000 amendments remain to be discussed in one week.

"respect"

In a rare speech, on the eve of a fourth day of demonstrations, Emmanuel Macron called on the organizers of the protest on Friday to maintain their "spirit of responsibility" so that "disagreements can be expressed, but calmly , respect for property and people, and with a desire not to block the life of the rest of the country".

Laurent Berger, secretary general of the CFDT, had little taste for the intervention: "Excuse me, but damn it, weren't we responsible from the start?".

And to hammer: the postponement of the retirement age from 62 to 64 years arouses "a deep rejection".

The first three days of mobilization brought together without notable incidents between 757,000 people according to the Interior (2 million according to the organizers) and 1.27 million (2.5 million).

On Saturday, the unions hope to mobilize those who cannot strike during the week.

According to police sources, 600,000 to 800,000 demonstrators are expected in 240 processions.

The secretaries general of the CFDT and the CGT, Laurent Berger (g) and Philippe Martinez (c) during a demonstration against the pension reform, February 7, 2023 in Paris © JULIEN DE ROSA / AFP / Archives

The inter-union has already scheduled days of action on February 16 and March 7, and is preparing for a long showdown.

The secretary general of the CGT Philippe Martinez evokes possible "harder, more numerous, more massive and renewable strikes".

© 2023 AFP