Pension reform: new overflows at gatherings

After two nights of tension in the Place de la Concorde in Paris, new clashes are punctuated by a demonstration against pension reform that took place in the south of the capital this Saturday evening. A CGT-organized rally in the 13th arrondissement, attended by over 4,000 people, including many young people, according to police, escalated in the evening as fires broke out on the tram tracks and construction sites were demolished on Avenue d’Ivry.

Projectiles were also thrown at the security forces, who responded with tear gas. Barricades were erected along the way, some caught fire. “Given the presence of a large number of bandits, the organizer calls for dispersal,” a police source said around 20:00.

Among the several hundred who were still in the Piazza d’Italie after 9 p.m., a woman in her thirties who carried a large effigy of Emmanuel Macron, more than two meters high, made of cloth and cardboard: “The police hit my effigy with a truncheon. But instead, the forces of order should join us, as the guards have disguised themselves as the Commune. We know they are tired too. At 21:30, according to the initial report, 76 people were arrested in the Place d’Italie and 10 in the Place de la Concorde.

Macron out! »

Already in the afternoon, calls for a demonstration on the Place de la Concorde increased on social networks, despite a ban issued by the Paris police headquarters. The important reception allowed the demonstrators to be dispersed, who for many joined the Place d’Italie procession. “After 49.3, a ban on demonstrations! It’s a shame,” the protester gets carried away. Macron out! a couple more gears. We are retired but come to demonstrations for our daughters. This is an unprecedented social regression after decades of progress. »

In Bordeaux (Gironde) the festive event has also degenerated. Police fired tear gas on the busy shopping street Sainte-Catherine after the fires started. Tensions also overshadowed demonstrations in Brest (Finistère) (6,000 demonstrators according to the police) and in Nantes (Loire-Atlantique) (6,000 according to the police, 15,000 according to the CGT). As of 21:00 Saturday, no other significant incidents had been reported.

Elsewhere, rallies organized by local unions were generally peaceful. The banners and slogans have divisived demonstrators against the 49.3 presented by Prime Minister Elisabeth Bourne this Thursday. Examples in Caen (Calvados) (2000 according to the prefecture, 5000 according to trade unions), Saint-Étienne (1200 according to the police, 3000 according to the CGT), Roanne (Loire) (1600 against 3000 according to the CGT). ), or even in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhone) or Besançon (Doubs) (several hundred).

Refinery to close soon

At the refineries, tensions have also risen. While strikers have so far been content with blocking fuel supplies, the Normandy (TotalEnergies) refinery in the Seine-Maritime, the country’s largest, began shutting down Friday night.

According to CGT spokesman Alexis Antonioli, this should take several days and not cause immediate fuel shortages at gas stations. Other facilities – PetroIneos in Lavere (Bouches-du-Rhone) or Esso-ExxonMobil in Port-Jerome-Gravenchon (Seine-Maritime) – could also be closed earlier in the week.