PARIS (Reuters) – The mobilization against the government continued on Friday in France after the outcry caused by the use of article 49.3 of the Constitution to pass the unpopular pension reform without a vote.
For the second consecutive evening, a large crowd gathered on the Place de la Concorde, in Paris, opposite the Palais Bourbon, cordoned off by an imposing police force. Demonstrators lit a fire on the esplanade, shouting “Macron resignation” or “We are here”, near the CRS cordons.
Demonstrations also took place in other cities such as Rennes, Toulouse or Bordeaux.
In the National Assembly, two motions of censure threaten the executive, which resolved on Thursday to resort to the constitutional weapon of 49.3 – considered by its detractors as a denial of democracy – for lack of being assured of obtaining a majority on the text in the National Assembly.
The decision provoked a wave of protests which resulted in spontaneous demonstrations Thursday evening throughout France, sometimes enamelled with violence.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced Friday 310 arrests in the country the day before, including 258 in Paris where thousands of demonstrators gathered at Place de la Concorde, opposite the Palais Bourbon.
The intersyndicale called Thursday evening for a new day of strikes and demonstrations in France on Thursday March 23, as well as for “proximity” actions during the weekend.
Friday morning, a blocking action took place on the Paris ring road at the call of the CGT.
“We are faced with a government that in reality has nothing to do with its workers, its people, so from there we will give free rein to the creativity of workers in the workplace,” Olivier said on Friday. Mateu, secretary of the CGT Departmental Union of Bouches-du-Rhône on BFMTV. “This reform, it will not see the light of day, 49.3 or not”.
At Concorde, Noémie, 30, who came Friday for the second evening in a row, denounced an “attack on democracy” with the use of 49.3. “There are people in the street shouting their anger and he (Emmanuel Macron) is not listening.”
Several teachers’ unions have called a strike for the week of March 20, during which certain Baccalaureate exams are to take place.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC) has requested the cancellation of 30% of flights at Paris-Orly airport and 20% of flights at Marseille-Provence airport for Monday due to of a strike notice.
TWO MOTIONS OF CENSORSHIP
The government refuses to speak of “failure” about this flagship reform at the start of Emmanuel Macron’s second five-year term providing for the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.
“It is not a failure since there is a text and this text will be, if the motion of censure is rejected, implemented”, declared Friday on BFMTV the Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt.
With recourse to 49.3, the Social Security amending financing bill, unanimously rejected by the unions and contested for weeks in the street, will be considered adopted except in the event of the adoption of a motion of censure at the absolute majority, i.e. 287 elected.
The centrist group Liot on Friday tabled a motion of censure signed by 91 deputies from five different groups (Liot and members of the left-wing coalition Nupes, namely environmentalists, communists, socialists and La France insoumise).
“Macron must withdraw his text”, declared the president of the Liot group, Bertrand Pancher, on BFM TV, wishing for a “change of method”.
“Faced with the government’s coup attempt to impose a reform that mistreats millions of our compatriots, we must oppose our determination”, can we read in a press release from Nupes.
No Republican (LR) deputy joined this “transpartisan” motion.
Republican President Eric Ciotti said Thursday that the group would not associate with or vote on “any motions.” A sign of the divisions within the Conservative Party, some LR deputies have said they want to be free to vote, which should take place on Monday in the hemicycle.
Without the vote of several dozen LR deputies, the motion of censure has almost no chance of being adopted.
The National Rally group chaired by Marine le Pen tabled its own motion of censure at the start of the afternoon.
“While the French are massively demonstrating their opposition to this reform, the national representation has at no time been able to vote for this text which is, despite the legality of the process, a serious attack on democratic principles”, wrote in a press release. the far-right party, which has 88 MPs.
(Written by Blandine Hénault, with contributions from Elizabeth Pineau, Noemie Olive, Kate Entringer, Matthieu Protard, Layli Foroudi, edited by Elizabeth Pineau and Jean-Stéphane Brosse)
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