Pension reforms: a day of large-scale mobilization throughout the France

Mobilization in Nantes (west of France), March 23, 2023. © LOIC VENANCE / AFP

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3 min

Railway tracks blocked, traffic disrupted, strikes: for this ninth day of action against the pension reform, the unions are counting on a strong mobilization, the day after an intervention by the President of the Republic that bristled opponents.

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This day is the first organized at the national level after the adoption of the law via the constitutional weapon of 49.3, on March 16. The criticism is particularly aimed at the President of the Republic after his televised intervention.

For the time being, the unions are again calling for a "massive" mobilization, after the half-hearted day of March 15 (1.5 million demonstrators according to the organizers, 480,000 according to the authorities). The police expect this time "between 600 and 800,000 people on about 320 actions", including 40 to 70,000 in Paris, where the procession will start at 14 pm from the Place de la Bastille, towards the Place de l'Opéra.

Communist leader Fabien Roussel called on Thursday, during the Paris demonstration against the pension reform, to "do everything to block the work tool" and "bring the country to a standstill".

The strikes have led to many disruptions, especially in transport. At the SNCF, only half of the TGV Inoui and Ouigo and a third of the TER were running, while the RATP reported a traffic "very disrupted" in the Paris metro, with about thirty stations "closed to the public". The tracks of the Gare de Lyon in Paris were also invaded by several hundred demonstrators, interrupting train traffic.

Blockades across the country

In Quimper, demonstrators blocked access to the station and occupied the tracks at dawn. Bus depots were also blocked by protesters in Rennes, Saint-Brieuc and Evreux. A few dozen people also burst into Roissy airport, blocking access to Terminal 1 for an hour before being dislodged peacefully. The risk also comes from the supply of kerosene, which "becomes critical" for the Ile-de-France and its major airports, because of strikes in refineries, said the Ministry of Energy Transition.

In the National Education where a renewed mobilization was expected, the ministry counted 23.22% of strikers in primary and 19.61% in secondary. The leading union in schools, the Snuipp-FSU planned between 40 and 50% of strikers among primary school teachers and its counterpart of the second degree, the Snes-FSU, 50% in middle and high schools.

Unrest also spreads among some of the youth. Dozens of high schools and universities were blocked in France. Even the unrevolutionary Faculty of Law of Assas, in Paris.

Will Thursday's mobilization be a baroud of honor, or a final bouquet before the protest is extinguished? According to a source close to the government, the executive hopes that the mobilization "fades" after Thursday's demonstration, and that everything returns to order "this weekend". But the inter-union does not disarm: it will meet Thursday evening at the headquarters of the CFDT in Paris.

Ninth day of mobilization: an important security device

On Thursday, March 23, 2023, 12,000 police and gendarmes are mobilized throughout the France, including 5,000 in Paris, to supervise this new day of inter-union action against the contested pension reform. An unprecedented number of police officers in the context of the demonstrations against this reform.

If the last eight days of mobilization at the call of the unions had taken place in peace, the use of article 49.3 to adopt this reform and the rejection of the motions of censure raise fears of an outbreak of violence in the processions.

In recent days, especially at night, there have been excesses during unauthorized gatherings throughout the country and a very impressive number of police custody. Amnesty International is alarmed by the excessive use of force and abusive arrests. The NGO calls on the authorities to ensure the safety of the demonstrators.

Even before the start of the Paris demonstration, the first operations took place during the day. For example, the occupation by railway workers of the railway tracks at the Gare de Lyon in the late morning, closed high schools and colleges or access to Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle airport is blocked by demonstrators, travelers had to reach it on foot.

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(

With AFP)

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