The mobilization against the pension reform is in sharp decline this Saturday, March 11 before a crucial week for the pension reform bill.
[Updated March 11 at 8:51 p.m.] A day of protest in sharp decline. This Saturday, March 11, the mobilization against the pension reform has largely weakened across France, falling for the first time under 400,000 participants. 368,000 people demonstrated in the streets of France, indicates the Ministry of the Interior against more than a million according to the unions. This is the weakest mobilization since the start of the social movement against pension reform. The CGT counted 300,000 protesters in Paris against 48,000 according to the police headquarters, this Saturday, March 11. Participation is thus much lower than that observed on Saturday February 11 (93,000) and even that of Tuesday March 7 (81,000), according to the authorities.
The numbers of protests in the region that are going up are also going down. In Marseille, the police headquarters counted 7,000 participants against 12,000 according to the police on Saturday February 11. In Lyon, the police counted this Saturday 7,000 people in the street against 10,700 during the last Saturday of mobilization. In Rennes, 10,000 demonstrators marched against 25,500 during the last mobilization on a Saturday. Laurent Berger warned by saying that “there may be fewer people in the street, but more anger in the heads”.
For the second time, a demonstration was organized on a Saturday, after the day of February 11, which had gathered 963,000 people in the street according to the Ministry of the Interior and more than 2.5 million according to the CGT. Renewable strikes continue in several sectors, including trains and the air sector, as well as power generation plants, gas infrastructure or garbage collection. In Île-de-France, traffic is almost normal at RATP except on RER A and B.
Union officials called on Emmanuel Macron to “consult the people” on pension reform on Saturday March 11. “If he is so sure of himself, the President of the Republic has only to consult the people. We will see the response of the people,” said CGT secretary general Philippe Martinez. lead this country to get out of this form of denial of the social movement”.
After the union leaders, Jean-Luc Mélenchon made the same wish. “I recommend that we move towards a consultation of the people themselves, so that we decide and that we do not remain in this situation of extreme tension”, declared the leader of France rebellious. “You have to find a way out, so we will find one by force,” he added.
Another day of mobilization is also scheduled for Wednesday, March 15, the day of examination of the text in a joint committee at the National Assembly. The unions, which announced 3.5 million demonstrators in France on Tuesday March 7, want to continue their momentum. They are asking the government to withdraw its pension reform bill, which should in particular make it possible to lower the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years old. “The president’s silence constitutes a serious democratic problem. The intersyndicale asks to be received urgently,” the union association said in a statement.
