Protests in France ahead of Friday’s ruling on pension reform

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By Webdesk


Protesters are demonstrating their anger at Friday’s ruling on whether Macron’s measures meet constitutional standards.

Protesters opposing President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular plan to raise the retirement age to 64 have demonstrated in cities and towns across France in a final display of anger ahead of a decision on whether the measure meets the constitutional norms.

In Paris, as thousands marched along the designated protest route on Thursday, some demonstrators with flaming torches diverted to the Constitutional Council, which must decide Friday whether to scrap any or all parts of the legislation.

They were confronted by a large contingent of police stationed outside the building, where other protesters had dumped bags of rubbish hours before the march began.

The rubbish heaps were cleared, but signaled the start of another strike by garbage collectors, timed to begin the nationwide protest marches. An earlier strike last month left the streets of the French capital filled with mounds of stinking rubbish for days on end.

Unions called for the final meetings, expecting 400,000 to 600,000 participants.

Paris
People react under tear gas during clashes at a demonstration as protesters gather at Place de la Bastille as part of the 12th day of nationwide strikes and protests against the French government’s pension reform [Stephanie Lecocq/Reuters]

Thousands also marched in Toulouse, Marseille and elsewhere. Tensions rose at protests in Brittany, particularly in Nantes and Rennes, where a car was burned.

In Paris, banks and high-end stores secured their windshields with wooden planks, but protesters nevertheless broke into the headquarters of the French luxury group LVMH and set off fireworks. Authorities have deployed 11,500 police officers, 4,200 of them in Paris alone.

“The mobilization is far from over,” said the leader of the left-wing CGT union, Sophie Binet, at a rubbish incinerator south of Paris, where several hundred protesters blocked garbage trucks.

“As long as this reform is not withdrawn, the mobilization will continue in one form or another.”

CGT has been one of the backbone of the protest and strike movement challenging Macron’s plan to raise France’s retirement age from 62 to 64.

Eight unions have staged protests since January in a rare voice of unity. Student associations have joined.

Macron had initially declined a request for a meeting with the unions, but during a state visit to the Netherlands on Wednesday, he proposed an “exchange” to discuss the follow-up to the Constitutional Council’s decision. There was no formal response to his offer.

Critics have challenged the government’s choice to include the pension scheme in a budget bill, which has significantly speeded up the legislative process.

The government’s decision to evade a parliamentary vote by using special constitutional powers turned the wrath of opponents into fury.

Polls consistently show that a majority of the French are against the pension reform.

Paris
A masked protester stands in front of the offices of the Bank of France ‘Banque de France’ during a demonstration [Stephane Mahe/Reuters]

What happens on Friday?

Nine people sit on France’s constitutional council, whose job it is to decide whether a law is in line with the constitution.

At the end of the day, the council was expected to decide whether to partially approve, fully accept or reject Macron’s main pension revision, the main measure of which is to lower the retirement age.

Left-wing and independent lawmakers, who have vehemently opposed the plan, also hoped the council would approve an effort to organize a referendum on an alternative law to limit the retirement age to 62 – as it does now.

The decisions of the board are binding.

On Tuesday and Thursday, left-wing lawmakers visited the council to urge them to ban the reform altogether.

They have argued that the government’s unorthodox method of resorting to a budget bill to pass a pension reform, as well as invoking the controversial Article 49.3 of the constitution to evade a vote in parliament , is a reason to scrap the law.





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