The inter-union demonstration on January 31 is not yet here. But already the streets are filling up. Not during the day, more at night. Torchlight marches are organized to protest against pension reform. Several took place in France this week. This Thursday night, the event brought together hundreds of people in Paris. The parade was organized at the request of the CGT, FO, FSU and Solidaires unions.
Torches, red smoke bombs, militant songs and the banner “Angry citizens”: the march took place in a good-natured atmosphere, from Place Gambetta to Place de la République, in the east of the capital, and brought together nearly a thousand people according to the organizers. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, leader of La France insoumise (LFI), was present.
“A fairer society”
“I fight against the pension reform and against all the social attacks that there may be and that are accelerating under Macron. It seems good to me that there is a local mobilization,” explains Alice, a resident of the 20th district who did not want to give her name and He came with his 9 year old son.
“I always suggest the demonstrations, the torches, to my children, it has a playful aspect,” he adds.
Marianne Cabaret-Rossi, a history teacher, speaks out “for a fairer society, for the old, who are going to retire, and for the young, so that they have a quality education system.”
The examination of the reform begins this Monday in commission
Other torchlight marches took place across the country, especially in Rouen, according to AFP. But also others in Marseille, Avignon, Dijon or even Périgueux, according to information from Radio France.
The examination of the pension reform in the National Assembly begins on Monday in the Social Affairs Commission. The following week, the text will be debated in the hemicycle. In particular, it plans to postpone the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 to 2030.
Source: BFM TV
