Striking workers with flying flags invaded and blocked one of the main train stations in Paris on Tuesday, while other demonstrations are already taking place in several cities in France, the Associated Press (AP) news agency reported.
Dozens of railway workers with flags and flares marched along the tracks at the Gare de Lyon in Paris, and peaceful protests are also taking place in other cities across the country, according to AP.
Today marks another day of demonstrations and strikes across France against French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64. This is the tenth wave of strikes and protests since January called by the unions, who called on workers and protesters to take to the streets against Macron’s decree.
The French government has stepped up security measures to curb the violence, while unions today launched a new wave of protests and strikes against raising the country’s retirement age.
The Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, announced an unprecedented mobilization of 13,000 police officers, almost half of them concentrated in the French capital, for fear of new acts of violence that could harm peaceful demonstrations.
Darmanin said more than 1,000 “radical protesters”, some from abroad, could join planned peaceful marches in Paris and other cities.
“They come to destroy, injure and kill police officers and gendarmes. Their objectives have nothing to do with the social security reform. Their objectives are to destabilize our republican institutions and bring blood and fire to France,” the minister declared on Monday. detailing police action. measures.
Union leaders and Macron’s political opponents blame his government for the violence in protests that have erupted in recent weeks and say his social security reforms are the cause.
Critics also allege that the police are using excessive force against the protesters. A police oversight body is investigating several allegations of wrongdoing by officers.
Unable to win a majority in the Lower House of the Republic Assembly for these unpopular reforms, Macron used special constitutional power to pass them, further inflaming the anger of the protesters.
Source: TSF
