Blockade of universities, the Paris ring road, stations, demonstrations… Since Thursday, protest actions have multiplied throughout France against the 49.3 employed by the Government to approve its pension reform without the vote of the deputies, unless a motion of censure is adopted.
In a note revealed by BFMTV on Tuesday, homeland intelligence judged that a possible use of 49.3 would likely “contribute to reviving the dispute and potentially radicalizing it.”
The unions had warned
The unions had issued the same warning. The head of the CGT, Philippe Martínez, said for example on Tuesday that “anger rises, and when there is a lot of anger, there may be things that are not acceptable.”
Thomas Vacheron, member of the CGT’s confederation leadership, in the midst of the unspeakable movements that emerged after the jeudi: “nous avons alerté moult fois”, declared the trade unionist on BFMTV ce vendredi, decrivant des “cris de colère extrêmement puissants” in the country”.
“We shouldn’t be surprised”
In this context, the unions do not want to be left out before next Thursday and the ninth day of mobilization against the pension reform decreed by the inter-union after the announcement of 49.3. “All union organizations are calling for union and local demonstrations throughout the weekend,” Thomas Vacheron stressed. The CGT also called to “broaden” the movement.
If Pascal Lagrue, Secretary General of Force Ouvrière Rhône, affirms that he does not “support” the violence that could have marked certain actions, in Marseille and Nantes in particular, he considers that “when we cause chaos or disturbances, we must not fail to be surprised, in some moment, to suffer the consequences” and denounces the “democratic denial” operated by the government.
Arnaud Marcinkiewicz, of the CGT railway workers, observes an “emotional and social reaction to the brutality of the government”: “this 49.3, we took it for ourselves, it goes beyond Parliament. It is up to all workers to impose it” . that,” he said Friday on BFMTV.
A call to “toughen up” the movement
Others also call to “harden” the protest movement against the pension reform. Baptiste Talbot, coordinator of the Public Service of the CGT, thus believes on BFMTV that the actions that are multiplying are “excellent news”:
“We are going to unleash the creativity of the workers in the workplace and we are going to get them to meet as often as possible, both in interprofessional demonstrations at the call of the inter-union as well as [aussi] between”, explains Olivier Mateu, general secretary of the CGT of Bouches-du-Rhône.
“Don’t think that we are going to let ourselves be hit with batons and 49.3”, Mateu also warns.
Source: BFM TV
