Violence flares amid Macron reform fury
French President Emmanuel Macron faced mounting pressure yesterday after violent demonstrations that left more than 400 security forces injured and the centre of major cities shrouded in tear gas and smoke.
More than 450 people were held on Thursday during the most violent day of protests since the start of the year against his bid to raise the retirement age to 64.
The French presidency announced yesterday that King Charles III’s visit next week had been postponed after unions declared fresh strikes and protests on Tuesday, during what would have been the British monarch’s trip.
“Given the announcement yesterday of another national day of protests against pension reform on Tuesday March 28, the visit of Charles III, initially scheduled from 26-28 March, has been postponed,” it said.
The decision was “in order to be able to welcome
His Majesty King Charles III in conditions which reflect our friendly relations”, it added.
“There were a lot of demonstrations and some of them turned violent, notably in Paris,” Interior Minister Darmanin told the CNews channel while giving figures for the number of arrests and injured.
More than 900 fires were lit around Paris on Thursday, he said, with radical anarchist groups blamed for setting uncollected rubbish ablaze and smashing shop windows, leading to frequent clashes with police.
In Bordeaux, protesters set fire to the entrance to city hall, briefly raising fears for the whole building until firefighters arrived to extinguish it.
“Why would you make a target of our communal building, of all people of Bordeaux? I can only condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” city mayor Pierre Hurmic told RTL yesterday.
More than a million people marched nationwide on Thursday, with the protest movement reinvigorated by Mr Macron’s tactics and statements over the last week.
His decision to force the legislation through parliament and his refusal to back down on Wednesday appeared to have energised many opponents.
“There’s the substance — the reform of the pension system — and then there’s the other issue of how democracy functions,” Student Judicael Juge, 21, told AFP during the protests.