History tells us the French ‘do revolution’ quite well, the current status of the protests against President Macron’s unilateral pension reform cuts are no exception.
Worker strikes have hampered France for over a week in protest to: (1) the pension reform; and (2) the undemocratic way it was enacted via unilateral fiat by the French President, Emmanuel Macron.
Today the worker strike turned to massive protests in the streets throughout several regions.
As the day wound down, those protests then turned violent as the ultra-left-wing “Black Bloc” anarchists began attacking police.
(Reuters) – PARIS, March 23 – Police fired tear gas and fought with violent black-clad anarchists in Paris and across France on Thursday as hundreds of thousands of protesters marched against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the pension age.
The ninth day of nationwide protests, mostly peaceful, disrupted train and air travel. Teachers were among many professions to walk off the job, days after the government pushed through legislation to raise the retirement age by two years to 64.
Demonstrations in central Paris were generally peaceful, but groups of “Black Bloc” anarchists smashed shop windows, demolished street furniture and ransacked a McDonald’s restaurant. Clashes ensued as riot police drove back the anarchists with tear gas and stun grenades.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 149 police officers were injured and 172 people were arrested across the country. Dozens of protesters were also injured, including a woman who lost a thumb in the Normandy town of Rouen.
[…] Police had also fired tear gas at some protesters in several other cities, including Nantes, and Lorient in the west, Lille in the north, and used water cannon against others in Rennes in the northwest. Labour unions fear protests could turn more violent if the government does not heed mounting popular anger over pension curbs.
Unions called for regional action over the weekend and new nationwide strikes and protests on March 28, the day Britain’s King Charles is due to travel to Bordeaux from Paris by train.
The main entrance of the Bordeaux town hall was set ablaze on Thursday, days before the monarch was due to walk through on his visit to the southwestern city.
On Wednesday, Macron broke weeks of silence on the new policy, insisting the law would come into force by year end. He compared protests to the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.
[…] The French Interior Ministry said 1.089 million protested across the country, including 119,000 in the capital which was a record since protests started in January. The CGT union said 3.5 million people marched in the country, equalling a previous high on March 7.
“I came here because I oppose this reform and I really oppose the fact that democracy no longer means anything,” Sophie Mendy, an administrative medical worker, told Reuters at the Paris rally. “We’re not being represented, and so we’re fed up.” (read more)
World War III may break out against Russia in/around Moldova. However, another more widespread war may break out even sooner that has nothing to do with nation states.
