>> Illustration photo – Demonstration against pension reform in the French capital Paris, March 18, 2023.
Paris – Protests continue in France today against the pension reform that President Emmanuel Macron pushed through by bypassing a vote in parliament. The head of the right-wing Republicans (LR), Éric Ciotti, said on Twitter that his office in Nice had also been vandalized. He described it as pressure for his party's MPs to vote no-confidence against the Macron-backed government. In the morning, 34 percent of TotalEnergies oil company refinery and warehouse workers went on strike against the reform, Reuters reported.
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Photo gallery: Opposition to pension reform in France
Protests against the pension reform, i.e. especially against raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, have been going on in France for several weeks. However, the tension in society intensified when the government bypassed the deputies when approving changes to the pension system, because unlike the Senate, they did not have a guaranteed majority support. This was made possible by Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows the Cabinet to pass a law without the National Assembly voting on it. In such a case, however, the government runs the risk that deputies will trigger a vote of no confidence. Opposition lawmakers have already done so, and the parliament is scheduled to discuss their initiative on Monday.
One of the last manifestations of resistance against the government was also the overnight incident. “They threw stones at my office last night. The gangsters who did it want to force my vote on Monday. I will never submit to the new disciples of Terror,” tweeted the head of LR Ciotti this morning about the attack on his office, posting a photo of the vandalized building. On Thursday, Ciotti ordered his deputies not to vote on any of the motions of no confidence in the government. Later, however, several members of the right-wing club announced that they would vote for a vote of no confidence in the government.
Opponents of the reform are planning to take to the streets of French cities today. On Saturday, according to Le Monde, protest meetings were held in large and medium-sized cities, in addition to Paris, for example in Lille, Amiens, Caen, Saint-Etienne, Roanne, Besançon, Dijon and Grenoble. Some processions numbered thousands of people, such as in Nantes or Brest. In Paris, some protesters clashed with the police. 81 people were detained in and around Place d'Italie. According to today's announcement by the French Ministry of the Interior, 169 people were arrested throughout France in connection with the demonstrations on Saturday, of which 122 were in Paris.
