France faces this Saturday a new day of partial strikes against Macron's pension reform after living on Friday a new night of riots and protests that ended in violence, with 61 arrested in Paris and another 36 in Lyon.
The spontaneous demonstrations took place for the second consecutive day after the approval on Thursday by decree of this law that delays the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The Place de la Concorde in Paris has become the symbol of the protests. Some 4,000 demonstrators gathered there and scenes of violence, barricades, people burning containers and clashes with the police, who had to evacuate the square, were seen again.
Scenes of tension were also seen in cities such as Bordeaux or Lyon, where some radical protesters attacked the city hall.
JULIEN DE ROSAAFP
More stoppages
The unions have called for demonstrations this weekend and there will be a new day of general strike on Thursday. It is the ninth since the mobilization against pension reform began.
In addition, there are stoppages in the refineries, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation has asked to cancel between 20-30% of flights on Monday due to the strike of air traffic controllers and garbage continues to accumulate in Paris, due to the stoppage of the garbage dumps. There are already more than 10,000 tons accumulated on the streets of the capital in almost two weeks.
Macron decided to activate article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows a law to be approved without a vote of the Assembly, given the doubts of not having the necessary support to take it forward in the Hemicycle.
Recourse to this article opens a political and social crisis of unknown consequences, since it is seen as an act of force on the part of the Government. This is the key reform of the president's second term and is approved unless one of the two motions of consura presented yesterday by the opposition prosper.
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