Demonstration of February 11: towards a record mobilization against the pension reform on Saturday?

New day of mobilization in sight. The unions once again call on the workers to mobilize this Saturday against the pension reform, for a 4th day of mobilization against the bill that provides in particular for the postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years. Wishing to strike, the unions expect a record mobilization.

“We have an appointment with history. The goal tomorrow is for several million of us to be on the streets,” calls the representative of the Sud-Rail union, Fabien Villedieu, into the BFMTV microphone.

The CFDT general secretary, Laurent Berger, had already said on BFMTV on Wednesday that he expected a “very strong mobilization” on Saturday and called on everyone to “go demonstrate massively with the whole family.”

Authorities estimate that just over 200 actions will be organized across the country on Saturday, bringing together between 500,000 and 700,000 people outside of Paris.

Were all the conditions met?

For this mobilization, the unions have chosen to launch an appeal on a weekend day, a first since the beginning of the movement against the pension reform. After three days of demonstration, they hope to mobilize even more.

“All the objectives are there: there is union unity, rage in the streets, there is no transport strike, which allows people to come without fighting,” said Fabien Villedieu.

The current record that the organizers want to break? That of October 12, 2010, when 3,500,000 people took to the streets, according to the unions, and 1,230,000 demonstrators, according to the police. The mobilization already referred to the postponement of the legal retirement age, foreseen at that time from 60 to 62 years.

Pension reform, a “unifying” issue

In recent decades, the various pension reforms have crystallized discontent, pushing many French people to take to the streets.

“It’s a very unifying theme, very easy to understand,” Jean-François Amadieu, a sociologist specializing in social relations, told BFMTV.

“It is an issue that also represents the protective French social model to which the French are attached,” he adds. The sociologist believes that Saturday may be the biggest social event since 1945.

The mobilization is also far from over. A new day of strike and demonstration is already scheduled for February 16, before that of March 7, just after the end of the school holidays and when the bill is debated in the Senate. A total and renewable strike is planned for this date.