A royal visit turned upside down? Social anger over pensions in France threatens to disrupt next week's visit to British sovereign Charles III, whom trade unionists say has "in the crosshairs".

"We will continue to mobilize (against the reform) and this visit will be in our sights," warned Mathieu Obry (General Confederation of Labor) and Yvan Fort (Force Ouvrière) in the daily Sud-Ouest this week.

"It is almost certain that the king will not be able to take the tramway" in Bordeaux as he planned, also anticipated Pascal Mesgueni, delegate of the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC) to the transport company Transports Bordeaux Métropole (TBM).

A police prefect "very serene"

From 26 to 29 March, Charles III made his first state visit abroad as sovereign. In addition to a dinner at the Palace of Versailles, he will gather at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris before addressing the Senate, a first for a British monarch. He will also travel to Bordeaux where he must travel by tram.

Emmanuel Macron "is certainly more comfortable with monarchs than with the elected representatives of the people to whom he denies the right to vote on his pension reform," said Ian Brossat, spokesman for the PCF, after the adoption by forceps of this text via the constitutional weapon of 49.3.

Socialist Senator Rémi Cardon, for his part, laconically observed that "there will be no crowd bath" of Charles III and Emmanuel Macron.

On the far left, the spokesman of the New Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) Olivier Besancenot summarized, hilariously, on franceinfo: Charles III, "we will welcome him with a good old general strike!"

If the prefect of police of Paris, Laurent Nunez, said he was "very serene" on BFMTV before the trip, Buckingham Palace is however keeping a worried eye on the demonstrations, reports the Daily Mail which evokes additional logistical precautions.

With AFP

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