The essential :
- The strike against the pension reform and the postponement of the legal age to 64 looks very popular this Thursday, January 19, especially in education and transport. According to the Ministry of National Education, 42.35% of teachers are on strike in primary schools and 34.66% in secondary schools (middle and high schools). The strike rate reached 46.3% at the SNCF.
- The unions plan rallies in 215 to 250 cities and hope to reach one million demonstrators. The police unsurprisingly set the bar lower: security sources are counting on a range of 550,000 to 750,000 demonstrators.
- France is preparing to live “a Thursday of galley”, summed up the Minister of Transport, Clément Beaune. The SNCF provides for “very severely disrupted” traffic with one TGV in three, or even one in five depending on the line, and barely one TER in ten on average. The Paris metro will also be reduced to the essentials, with three lines closed and ten others open only at peak times, according to the RATP, which has advised telework to those who can. The sky will not be spared, since 20% of flights should be canceled at Orly airport.
2:49 p.m. – The left ensures that the “battle of opinion is won”
Upstream of the Parisian procession, the first secretary of the PS, Olivier Faure, called for the holding of a referendum. “With 85% of French people who are hostile to this project, if the head of state had a little logic in his ideas (…), he should now submit this project to a referendum”, he argued. . “The path (that the president) has chosen is that of forceful passage. We are going to demonstrate that the force is there, ”he said. In Abbeville, the Insoumis François Ruffin said he was convinced that “the battle of public opinion has already been won, 9 out of 10 active people are against it”.
2:39 p.m. – In Nantes, between 25,000 and 50,000 demonstrators against the pension reform
From 25,000 (according to the police) to 50,000 people (according to the unions) demonstrated in Nantes against the pension reform. A large police force was present and the demonstration took place peacefully. The Nantes demonstration mobilized much more than during the previous big rally against the pension reform, on December 5, 2019. At the time, the police had counted 19,000 demonstrators in Nantes, and the CGT 25,000.
2:37 p.m. – Beginning of the demonstration in Paris
The imposing Parisian procession set off around 2:30 p.m. from Place de la République. Many trade union organizations are present: transport, health, students, industry, garbage collectors, there is everything. The mood is relaxed so far. Eugénie, 25, is a law student in Paris: “The future is not bright for young people, and pushing back the retirement age adds to degraded working conditions for all workers. ” Lionel, 65 years old and retired railway worker: ” I am already retired, but I demonstrate in support of young people. Macron wants to create a break between young and old to ensure his electorate, I want to show that we too are in solidarity. »
2:29 p.m. – Nearly half of EDF staff on strike
The participation of EDF employees in the strike against the pension reform project amounted to 44.5% of the total workforce at midday, indicated the management of the energy company, a much larger figure. than in previous events of this type. The rate of strikers during the first and most followed of the days of mobilization against the previous pension reform project stood at 36.5% at midday on December 5, 2019.
1:46 p.m. – The unions are delighted with a “very successful” day
“We have numbers of demonstrators in the provinces which are considerable, averages which we have never reached. We announced maybe a million, we will be there, and well beyond today ”, welcomed Laurent Escure (Unsa). Frédéric Souillot (FO) hailed a “very successful” day with “massive mobilization”. “But we are not there to count ourselves, we are there to weigh in and (…) push back” the government. “The only thing that could make us say that we stop is quite simply that, tonight, the government says that we are taking a break and returning to 62 years old”, pleaded Pascale Cotton (CFTC).
1:40 p.m. – A strong national mobilization against the reform
The first figures reported by the authorities attest to a very significant mobilization: at least 30,000 people marched in Toulouse, 26,000 in Marseille, 15,000 in Montpellier, 14,000 in Tours, 13,600 in Pau, 12,000 in Perpignan and in Orléans, 8,000 in Châteauroux, 9,000 in Angoulême, 6,500 in Mulhouse and Périgueux…
1:28 p.m. – Laurent Berger (CFDT) welcomes a “strong mobilization”
The mobilization against the pension reform “is beyond what we thought”, assured the number one of the CFDT, Laurent Berger, at the start of the Paris demonstration. “We are clearly on a strong mobilization,” said Laurent Berger. “This mobilization is successful”, for his part rejoiced Philippe Martinez (CGT), welcoming “a union of unions, a pledge of confidence for employees”.
1:22 p.m. – Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron is in Barcelona
The President of the Republic is in Spain for a summit with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The 27th Franco-Spanish summit, with the signing of a “treaty of friendship and cooperation” between the two neighbors, “had been fixed well in advance”, argues those around him, before the unions announced the date their first day of demonstrations. Spain being “the inviting power”, the French presidency stresses that it therefore had “no leeway” to postpone the date. Thus, Emmanuel Macron is far from the Elysée the day he saw the first big test of his second five-year term.
READ ALSOCoignard – The Executive at the Spanish Inn
1:19 p.m. – 77% of drivers on strike at SNCF
The strike rate reached 46.3% Thursday at the SNCF for the first day of mobilization against the pension reform, which leads to numerous cancellations of trains, in particular regional trains. In detail, there are 77.4% of strikers among passenger train drivers, 50.8% among controllers or 48.4% at SNCF Réseau, where signalmen and agents responsible for track maintenance work. .
12:58 p.m. – Soon more than a million demonstrators?
“I think that the million (demonstrators) will be exceeded given the figures that I already have” at this time of day, declared the secretary general of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, shortly before the start of the Paris demonstration. According to the union leader, there are 75% more demonstrators than at the demonstration of December 5, 2019, the culmination of the mobilization against the former pension reform project of the government of Édouard Philippe.
12:50 p.m. – Tens of thousands of demonstrators according to the prefectures
From Nantes to Marseille, the demonstrators pounded the pavement in the morning, before the Parisian procession set off at 2 p.m. The first figures reported by the prefectures attest to a significant mobilization: at least 30,000 people marched in Toulouse, 6,500 in Mulhouse, 6,000 in Tarbes, 4,000 in Nice and Belfort. Levels comparable to those of December 5, 2019, at the start of the challenge against the previous pension reform project.
12:34 p.m. – In Nantes, the crowd at the rendezvous!
The gathering was set for 10:30 a.m. at the foot of the Dukes’ castle, in front of the water mirror. A suitable point for a human tsunami! In fact, despite the light rain, several thousand people (20,000 at the very least) swept onto the site to leave in procession for the prefecture. Such a crowd that you can’t make out the head or the tail of the parade. “We hadn’t seen this for years”, welcomes a demonstrator. The remark is not insignificant here, in Nantes, where the social movements are generally already very followed. At midday, no official figure has yet been communicated, but the first estimates already suggest the presence of more than 20,000 people in Nantes, while 10,000 pounded the pavement in Saint-Nazaire in the morning. They were 4,000 in Ancenis and nearly a thousand in Châteaubriant. Hospital agents, teachers, public service and even the private sector: the spectrum is particularly wide on professional representations. Same observation on the composition of the crowd, with young people and retirees, all come to express their rejection of the reform. Yellow Vests are also taking advantage of the mobilization to relaunch the movement. Note, finally, a relatively discreet police device (for the moment), in comparison with the previous demonstrations, often interspersed with incidents, in the sixth city of France.