The challenge to the reform of the pension system returned this Thursday to the French streets, specifically in the capital Paris, with some outbreaks of violence on the eve of the expected deliberation of the Constitutional Council on the new law.
After almost three months of protests – this Thursday is the 12th day called by the unions – the authorities expect between 400,000 and 600,000 protesters, compared to the 570,000 registered on April 6 and the 740,000 on March 28.
The influential General Confederation of Labor (CGT) has already announced that there will be 400,000 demonstrators in Paris, but the figures from the Ministry of the Interior are still awaited, which normally reflect some discrepancy with the data advanced by the union organizations.
As in previous days, there were clashes with the police in some French cities.
In Nantes (west), where there will be between 10,000 and 25,000 people on the streets (according to data provided by the police and the unions, respectively), the protesters threw projectiles at the police, who responded with tear gas grenades, according to the report. of international organizations.
In Paris, protesters briefly stormed the headquarters of the French luxury brand group LVMH, in the famous Champs-Elysees district. Inside, protesters hurled tobacco devices and chanted loud whistling noises.
The Constitutional Council building, located in the Palais Royal, in the heart of the French capital, was placed under heavy surveillance. This Thursday morning, an attempt to block the building with containers and smoke bombs resulted in four arrests.
Meanwhile, the Paris police prefect has issued an order prohibiting all demonstrations in the immediate vicinity of the institution, from this Thursday afternoon until early Saturday morning.
The French Constitutional Council (a council of wise men, the equivalent of the Portuguese Constitutional Court) must rule on the constitutionality of the new pension law, approved by constitutional provision and without a vote in parliament.
Among the various possible scenarios, the council will be able to validate or reject, partially or totally, the new pension law that provides, among other things, to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 years without economic sanctions in France.
Source: TSF
