Thousands of people demonstrated on Saturday in Paris against pension reform, responding to the call of youth organizations, as well as the Naughty France party (LFI, radical left opposition).
“Resistance!”, “We are here even if Macron does not want it”: while a bill to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 is expected to be presented to the Cabinet on Monday, a youth-led march that adopted participation of people of all ages, passed between Place de la Bastille and Place de la Ethnos without any noticeable incident.
There was no turnout at today’s rally as at Thursday’s rally, which police or the General Confederation of French Workers estimate drew between one and two million protesters across France.
With almost 150,000 demonstrators, the organizers can boast that they have achieved their goal. Other figures, however, are much lower: 12,000 according to a police source, 14,000 according to the Office of Accidents on behalf of a media group including AFP.
In the crowd, Charlotte Lamorlette, a 30-year-old director, and Chloe Kissipur, a 29-year-old actress, believe that “we are at the beginning of a movement, we need to send a strong message and inspire other people.” come.”
Next to her is Zoë Laurier-Chevalier, a member of the Génération.s party. “We want to fight this, we want to say that we will not be the generation that was sacrificed.”
In the crowd, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, head of Insubordinate France (LFI), addressed Emmanuel Macron: “Damn you, you want to commodify our entire existence.”
According to public opinion polls, the pension plan and its key measure, raising the retirement age from the current 62 to 64, have faced a united trade union front and sharp public hostility.
This political test for President Emmanuel Macron comes at a tense economic and social time when the French are suffering the consequences of high inflation, which will average 5.2% in 2022.
The government has decided to increase working hours to deal with the financial deterioration of pension funds and an aging population. She defends her program by presenting it as a “bearer of social progress” mainly in addition to small pensions.
Source: APE/MEB
Source: Kathimerini
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