French strikes intensify and grow in numbers
Strikes in France brought trains to a halt and protesters flooded the streets, clashing with police in some cities on Thursday, after President Emmanuel Macron pledged to implement legislation raising the retirement age.
Transport employees, teachers and workers around the country marched against the pension law, which raises the minimum retirement age by two years to 64. Riot police scuffled with protesters in cities including Bordeaux, Rennes and Nantes. Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in Paris, largely peacefully, while some more radical activists lit fires and hurled tear gas bombs at police.
Labor unions are trying to raise the pressure on the government, a day after Mr. Macron gave a television interview that stoked their anger. The president doubled down on the pension overhaul as the best way to ensure the future of France’s generous pension system, in part due to rising life expectancy, and said those opposed needed to face reality.
The government’s use of executive powers to push the bill through has intensified a standoff with unions. The protests have drawn huge crowds since January but so far failed to get Mr. Macron to change course.
One of the main labor confederations, the CGT, which is at the heart of the strike, told Agence France-Presse an estimated 800,000 people took to the streets of Paris on Thursday — a number which, if confirmed, would be a record since the beginning of the movement against the pension reform.
The confederation’s branch in Marseille said it estimated more than a quarter million people protested Thursday in the southern port city alone, while French media cited police as giving a far lower estimate of 16,000 protesters in Marseille.
Rail workers marched onto the tracks at Paris’s Gare de Lyon on Thursday and at the train station in Marseille, where the local branch of a rail workers union vowed to block trains from running until the pension plan is withdrawn.
The country’s civil aviation body warned of disruptions to flights into and out of airports for Paris, Marseille, Bordeaux and Lyon, urging passengers to delay their travel and contact airlines.
Outside Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport, protesters blocked a highway leading to one of the terminals of one of Europe’s busiest airports. The blockade forced some travelers to reach the airport on foot, the French channel BFM TV reported.
As tourist attractions including the Eiffel Tower and the Versailles Palace closed, Transportation Minister Clement Beaune tweeted that officials were meeting at a crisis center to monitor public transport disruptions “hour by hour.”
Rolling strikes have also disrupted access to refineries, causing shortages at the pump in gas stations in various parts of the country. The government on Thursday renewed a requisition order to force a fuel depot in southern France to operate at reduced capacity to ensure supplies for the region, Reuters reported. Striking oil workers tried to block access to the refinery on Thursday. In Paris, meanwhile, walkouts by trash collectors have left heaps of garbage bags spilling out onto the sidewalks this month.
Thursday’s industrial action drew people of a variety of ages, backgrounds and professions, with young people marching shoulder-toshoulder with older protesters closer to retirement age.
The Education Ministry estimated about a quarter of middle school teachers and roughly 15 percent of high school teachers went on strike. Students joined in cities including Nantes, where one protester held a sign that read “Sign- makers on strike.” Another picket sign featured a drawing of a skeleton that said “Long live retirement.”
Photos and videos from Nantes and Rennes in western France showed police using water cannons and tear gas, and protesters lighting trash on fire.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin has said he ordered the deployment of nearly 12,000 police officers, including 5,000 in Paris on Thursday. Police officers turned tear gas and batons on protesters in several cities Thursday, with footage on social media showing riot police using batons to hit a crowd of demonstrators in Paris, seemingly indiscriminately, as people watching from the sidelines booed.
Police violence toward protesters has received fresh scrutiny in recent weeks, after protesters reported online or in French media having been beaten or arbitrarily arrested by riot police. Claire Hedon, France’s defender of rights, an official position focused on defending individual liberties and acting against discrimination, said in a statement Tuesday she was “worried about the testimonies she had received” and would continue to monitor the behavior of security forces to ensure they comply with ethical standards.
Police officers have also been injured in the demonstrations, with one appearing to fall unconscious after being hit in the head with a stone, according to BFM.
After the government passed the pension bill through the lower house of Parliament without a vote last week, the text now faces a review from the Constitutional Council. Still, Macron says the law should come into effect by the end of the year.
Since his government survived two no- confidence votes this week, the test now is whether Mr. Macron’s determination can outlast the unions’ ability to bring pressure to bear on the streets.
“Yesterday, the president of the Republic mocked us,” said Marie Buisson, a senior official in the CGT.
“We will continue” even if the bill is adopted “because what we refuse is this reform that forces everyone to work for two extra years,” she said on the radio. “You can clearly see the enormous anger out there.”