Pension reform: Russian media mocks France

A pedestrian walks past garbage bags piling up near the Pantheon while garbage collectors have been on strike since March 6 to protest against the pension reform. Paris, 22 March 2023. AFP - ALAIN JOCARD

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1 min

The protests against the pension reform in France are also widely commented on in the press and on Russian television channels. As in the time of the demonstrations of the "yellow vests", they revel in the crisis.

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Garbage cans on fire, piles of garbage, clashes between police and demonstrators, brutal arrests: images showing a France that gives the impression of sinking into chaos are multiplying on Russian television channels.

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Garbage and rats are everywhere," headlines one online media, "Paris drowns in garbage, rats have invaded the streets," adds another.

In a country where demonstrations are banned, where any dissenting voice can end up in prison, the media insists on the hundreds of protesters arrested.

Emmanuel Macron has already spent ten billion euros on the war in Ukraine. To compensate, he must increase the retirement age, it is explained on television, forgetting, in passing, that Vladimir Putin had taken a similar measure, very unpopular, in 2018.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wondered on Telegram when Emmanuel Macron "will he provide weapons to French citizens to support democracy and the sovereignty of the country?

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The star presenter of the first Russian channel, Olga Skabeïeva, interprets in her own way a survey that indicates that the French spend less on their personal hygiene, against a background of inflation:

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Now, the peculiar smell can be smelled not only on the streets where garbage collectors are on strike, she says, but also in public places, where dirty and neglected French Russophobes gather.

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► Read also Pension reform: net rebound of the mobilization throughout the France

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  • Russia
  • France
  • Emmanuel Macron
  • Media
  • Social issues