Pension reform: Paris City Hall activates a "crisis unit"

Europe 1 with AFP 14:52 p.m., March 21, 2023

The mayor of Paris decided Tuesday to activate a "crisis cell", the day after a fifth evening of spontaneous demonstrations against the pension reform in the capital, where garbage cans continue to pile up on the sidewalks. Already activated for the Covid-19 health crisis or summer heat waves, this crisis unit will bring together every day the mayor PS Anne Hidalgo, her deputies and the mayors of the borough to "take the necessary decisions to ensure the continuity of public services" in Paris, says the town hall in a statement.

Monitoring the evolution of waste collection

Contacted by AFP, the entourage of the socialist mayor specifies that the crisis unit will be used to monitor the evolution of waste collection, strongly disrupted for more than two weeks, but also to inform "public institutions of the demonstration routes". Anne Hidalgo, who supports the social movement, "calls for calm and urges the government to withdraw its reform and engage in dialogue with the social partners," said the town hall.

>> READ ALSO – Pension reform: new day of tensions across the capital

On Monday, the mayor LR of the 6th arrondissement Jean-Pierre Lecoq, an area very affected by the lack of collection, had reported to AFP a "beginning of fire in front of a private nursery" linked to a garbage fire. "There is urgency" in terms of health, said the elected opposition, according to which the requisitions ordered by the prefecture of police, after a refusal of the town hall to ask for them, have so far a "limited effect".

Since Thursday, these requisitions "have allowed the establishment of a minimum service" including "206 trucks (which) have been put into service," said Tuesday the prefecture of police in a statement. "Four waste sorting centers have been unblocked by the police, to allow the exit of these vehicles," added the prefecture.