Pensions: Anne Hidalgo condemns "violence that diverts attention"

Europe 1 with AFP 16:20 p.m., March 24, 2023

The PS mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo, a supporter of the social movement against the pension reform, condemned Friday "violence that diverts attention", occurred in particular in the context of the demonstrations, Thursday in the district of the Opera Garnier. "The demonstration, which went well, turned in an extremely violent and worrying way," said the socialist elected Friday after the meeting of her crisis cell on the social movement and its consequences.

Anne Hidalgo launches an "appeal for calm"

"I condemn this violence, because it diverts attention from a subject on which there is an immense majority of French people who agree, namely to demand the withdrawal of the law on pensions," said Anne Hidalgo launching an "appeal for calm". She castigated the "stubbornness of the President of the Republic to want to pass in force" on the reform. "His speech" on Wednesday "has only aggravated the situation," she said.

>> READ ALSO – Pensions: nearly 457 arrests in France, 441 police and gendarmes injured Thursday

Many violence and clashes with the police punctuated the demonstration against the pension reform Thursday in Paris, before turning into "wild" processions for much of the evening, around the Opera district where the procession ended. Nine bus shelters, six kiosks, two sanisettes, tree gates and 22 traffic lights in this neighborhood were damaged, according to a count provided by Anne Hidalgo.

According to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, 140 fires were recorded in the capital, mostly lit from garbage cans that could not be collected, due to the strike of garbage collectors and employees of incineration sites.

A minimum waste collection service provided

On Thursday, 9,600 tons of garbage littered the Parisian sidewalks, a volume generally stable for a week despite the requisitions ordered by the prefecture of police. If "158 skips came out Friday, 10% more than a normal Friday," said Anne Hidalgo, "travel times remain long" because of blockages of incinerators, "and therefore we have a capacity that is always reduced by half". The former socialist presidential candidate is accused by her opponents, but also by some traders, of not doing everything to limit the impact of this strike that she supports.

>> READ ALSO – Pensions: Yaël Braun-Pivet asks politicians, unions or journalists "to call for calm"

"Every day in Paris, we generate 3,000 tons of waste. We collect (since the beginning of the strike) every day at least 50% to 66%, it is much more than a minimum service. But we do what we can with what we have, "responded Friday the first deputy (PS) Emmanuel Grégoire. Asked about the rate of strikers among municipal employees, Emmanuel Grégoire said that it had increased from 6% to 25% since the beginning of the requisitions, stressing the "unproductive nature of this type of measures".