Thursday’s demonstration in Paris against the revision of the pension law was marked by fierce clashes between violent elements and the police and the destruction of street furniture and shop windows of commercial establishments.
Hooded people dressed in black who followed a few hundred meters ahead of the march called by the unions threw projectiles at the security forces, who responded with tear gas grenades, during the route between the Place de la Bastille and the Opera, where it is expected that the protest will end.
Along the way, they set fires at some points using the rubbish that had accumulated in the streets of the French capital as a result of the collection strike, which lasted more than two weeks and forced the intervention of firefighters.
By mid-afternoon, police sources indicated they had made 14 arrests.
Parallel to these disturbances, the union parade took place peacefully, with 800,000 participants, according to the first figures from the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), which, if confirmed, will make this the largest concentration since January 19. , protests against the revision of the reform law began in France.
As in Paris, incidents were also recorded at demonstrations in other cities of the country, such as Rennes, Nantes, Bordeaux and Lorient.
The main union leaders distanced themselves from the acts of violence and condemned them, accusing the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, of relying on them to discredit the strength of their demonstrations.
France is experiencing its ninth day of protests against a law that would raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 without financial penalties, which was finally approved last Monday when two censure motions against the government were defeated, one with just nine wishes.
Macron said on Wednesday he hoped the amendment to the reform law would come into force before the end of the year, once approved by the Constitutional Council, while unions guarantee protests and strikes will continue to force the executive, led by the prime minister Élisabeth Borne, to step back and withdraw the diploma.
Source: DN
