The railway workers on strike against the pension reform invaded the former headquarters of the Crédit Lyonnais in Paris for about twenty minutes this Thursday, the historic Centorial building, in which Blackrock stands out today, with loud smoke bombs and whistles. “We are here!” SUD-Rail and CGT activists sang in the hall of the enormous building in the 2nd district of the capital, chosen because it symbolizes, according to them, banks and wealth.
Protesters who invaded the building began chanting directly against BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, before chanting “Anti, anti-capitalists” amid smoke generated by smoke bombs.
The lobby of the Natixis headquarters invaded by Attac militants
They had left in a general assembly at the Gare de Lyon on the occasion of the inter-professional strike against the pension reform. The building now houses several financial companies, including BlackRock. Entering around noon without hindrance or violence, the protesters left around 12:20 p.m., continuing their demonstration in the center of Paris, under the stunned or amused gaze of passers-by. There did not appear to have been any damage and the police arrived shortly thereafter.
In the morning, the Natixis bank, a subsidiary of the Banque Populaire Caisse d’Epargne (BPCE), was also targeted by activists. The anti-globalization NGO Attac occupied the lobby of the company’s headquarters in the 13th arrondissement of Paris for two hours, according to the NGO’s Twitter posts. The activists carried a banner “Tax evasion seriously harms our pensions.” Natixis and four other banks are being investigated by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) on suspicion of tax evasion.
Source: BFM TV
