The demonstrations against the pension reform in the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Élysées in Paris were prohibited this Saturday by the police command, after two nights of protests overshadowed by incidents.
“Due to the serious risk of disturbing public order and security (…) all demonstrations are prohibited on public roads in and around Place Concordia, as well as in the Champs-Elysees area,” he told AFP. City Hall.
“People who try to congregate will be systematically demobilized by law enforcement” and could be fined, the same source added.
These places are located near the National Assembly and the Elysee presidential palace.
The challenge to the pension reform decided by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, took more radical contours, with young activists tired of the weekly processions and willing to toughen the fight, after the decision of the Government, this Thursday, to approve the text.
On Friday, like the day before, thousands of people gathered in the Plaza de la Concordia.
A bonfire was lit and the atmosphere turned tense as night fell, with police charging into the crowd, according to AFP journalists.
Several hundred people confronted the police with bottles and rockets, to which they responded with tear gas as they moved to evacuate the square, in the torrential rain.
According to the police command, 61 people were questioned.
The day before, 10,000 protesters gathered at the site and 258 people were arrested.
The French Government decided this Thursday to approve the pension reform, appealing to article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows the approval of a text without a vote, unless a motion of no confidence is voted in the Executive.
The measure provides for an increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
Source: TSF
