REPORTAGE – 13,000 people marched for purchasing power in the capital, according to the authorities. The police made eleven arrests.
Bang. Bang. Boulevard du Montparnasse, around 4:50 p.m., the noise surprises and dominates the crowd, however noisy. In the lead procession of the demonstration for purchasing power, a stone’s throw from the first union trucks, participants dressed all in black attack the window of a Bärenstark BMW dealership. The crowd notices it little by little, cheers the thugs, encourages them. “Come on !exclaims a man, his face beaming. Then, the windows give way, under a last blow of the stopper, under the cheers of the observers. A few minutes later, the police approached running to protect the store, wiping jeers and invectives from the demonstrators. Behind, the long union procession gets back in motion, the tension drops, and the incident is quickly forgotten.
In Paris, Monday afternoon, the CGT, Force Ouvrière, Solidaires, the FSU and several youth organizations marched between Place d’Italie and the Invalides. Rejection of the pension reform project, defense of the hospital and public services, anger against the “macronieand the 49-3 which must be put on the table in the hours to come… Many watchwords were visible in the procession, dominated above all by concerns about purchasing power, the desire to snatch significant wage increases, and the rejection of the requisitions of strikers at TotalEnergies like Esso-ExxonMobil.
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Crossed just before the departure of the procession, the boss of Force Ouvrière, Frédéric Souillot, protested against requisitions “incomprehensible», violating the constitutional right to strike. The union representative, who was marching alongside his CGT counterpart, underlined the absolute need for substantial wage increases, “at least equal to inflation“, and asks for an increase in the minimum wage, which would push companies to increase their employees.
A few meters further, we meet a delegation of rebellious elected officials. With a smile on her face, the boss of LFI deputies, Mathilde Panot, explains that she wants “participate in the balance of power», so that the social movement spreads. The government “must give up on wages“, insists the elected representative of the Bourbon palace, who also pleads for an increase in the minimum wage. “The people won’t let it go“, She warns, pointing to the future use of 49-3 to pass the 2023 budget in Parliament. A measure equivalent to the forced passage of a “minorityto block the country, squeaks the MP, taking up the phrasing of the Minister of Economy and Finance, who recently warned that “in a democracy, it is not a minority that dictates its law“. “The politics of the rich is enough“, concludes the deputy.
“Eat the Rich”
In the procession, the demonstrators brandish signs denouncing the lifestyle of billionaires, the use of 49-3 – “Water boils at 100 degrees, people at 49.3», mocks a sign -, or even the «social damage“. Bright red workers’ flags flutter, others sporting a hammer and sickle, and still others in Palestinian colours. Songs rise here and there, ranging from the now traditional “Macron, resignation», to the most inventive «poo, pee, cacapipitalism“, Passing by “even vegans want to eat the rich“. The atmosphere is good-natured, but determined.
The first demand concerns above all the end of the month: “We are very far from the increase in the cost of living“, sighs Bruno, electrician at the AP-HP for 25 years. This member of the Sud Santé section at the Emile Roux hospital is worried about soaring prices, while “the increases in the Ségur de la santé were not up to par“. A “masquerade“, he denounces. Attached to the public service mission of the hospital, Bruno tells a world “incredibly violent“, in which the lack of means obliges to “to sort» the sick or to refuse others.
A little further, Nathalie, an employee at Pôle Emploi, also claims wage increases at least equal to inflation, as well as additional means to support her colleagues. “I’ve been here for thirty years. This is my professional home, with a real public service mission», relates this team leader, who says to herself «delighted to demonstrate to show our concern, our anger“. The Parisian striker also says she understands that TotalEnergies employees can be “shockedby the salary of their CEO, and by the record profits reaped by their group.
Incidents noted
The demonstration was also marked by sporadic clashes between a group of a few dozen thugs in black – two hundred, according to the police headquarters – and the police. In addition to the BMW dealership, street furniture was damaged, a bank window attacked, a trash can burned, a glass container overturned, and the men in blue responded to participants’ throwing projectiles and barricade attempts with charges. Sporadic tensions descended as quickly as they rose, sometimes leading to surprising scenes, to say the least, among sometimes very young thugs: in Montparnasse, the staff of a restaurant ardently defended their street furniture, while the demonstrators tried to use it against the police. A few meters further, a thug tried to uproot a tree to use as a projectile, before giving up, looking disappointed. In total, the authorities counted eleven arrests and eight agents “slightly injured“, according to Gérald Darmanin.
One thing is certain: the demonstration did not allow the CGT to show that it had the capacity to mobilize widely, despite a particularly tense social climate. On Tuesday, the authorities counted some 107,000 participants in France, including 13,000 in Paris, when the Montreuil plant claimed three times more across France, and seven times more in the capital. These figures are much lower than past demonstrations, such as those against pension reform … And lower, too, at the march against the high cost of living organized by Nupes: on Sunday, Jean-Luc Mélenchon claimed 140,000 participants in Paris, when the police headquarters counted 30,000. Higher figures, therefore, and which do not allow us to conclude either in a rise in power of the challenge.
Nathalie is therefore not optimistic about the continuation of the social movement: “Many colleagues tell me that they don’t have the money to go on strikeshe sighs. And to add:When we see the anger around us, mobilizations are often quite disappointing“.