This Tuesday, March 7 marks the sixth day of the mobilization against the pension reform. Many polls show that the French are overwhelmingly opposed to this measure, even if they think it will be implemented in fine. This sixth day since the launch of the protest will mark the launch or continuation of renewable strikes in several sectors, from transport to refineries through energy, trade or waste.
A few days before the probable adoption of the reform in the Senate, the main opposition unions are planning “historic” demonstrations, renewable strikes, but also occupied roundabouts or canceled shows. According to the terms, the unions want to “bring France to a halt” this Tuesday.
“More than 2 million demonstrators” expected
Leaders of the main unions said on Tuesday they expected “more than 2 million” demonstrators for their sixth day of mobilization against the pension reform, which they say marks the start of a “new phase” of the social movement.
“I think we are going to put more than two million people on the streets today,” said Frédéric Souillot in an interview on RTL. The secretary general of Force Ouvrière affirmed that “in many places France is at a standstill”, following the watchword of the intersyndicale, which “demonstrates that the strategy works” and therefore justifies continuing ” until the withdrawal of this reform”.
Opinion shared by Laurent Berger: “We must not resign ourselves, it is possible to roll back the government on 64 years”, launched on LCI the boss of the CFDT, who also hopes to beat the record of January 31 ( 1.27 million participants according to the authorities, 2.5 million according to the organizers). “There will be more people, I tell you,” he assured, warning that “the vast majority of employees will be called to new initiatives” if the executive does not return to his project.
On Franceinfo, the boss of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, promised him “the first day of a new phase”. “The strikes are renewable already today,” he said, while in some refineries and at nuclear power plants the strike has already been going on since this weekend.
265 gatherings planned throughout France
Territorial intelligence expects 1.1 to 1.4 million demonstrators, according to Agence France Presse information from police sources, including 60 to 90,000 in Paris. The CGT plans a total of 265 rallies. Moreover, according to France infoin a note from the intelligence services, the authorities fear that this sixth day of mobilization against the pension reform will be punctuated with incidents, unlike the previous ones.
The Parisian demonstration will start at 2:00 p.m. from Sèvres-Babylone, in the direction of Place d’Italie.
60% of teachers strike in the first degree
In education, the Snuipp-FSU, the leading primary union, provides “more than 60%” of striking teachers in the first degree and “several thousand schools” closed on Tuesday. Lockdowns are planned in universities. Sporadic blockages by high school students are also expected. Same in the faculties.
Transport “very disrupted”
At the SNCF, the strike began Monday at 7:00 p.m. and 80% of the TGV Inoui and Ouigo are canceled, as well as almost all the Intercités, with degraded or even interrupted international connections between France and Germany and France and Spain notably. In Ile-de-France, on the SNCF network, one train in three ran on RER A and B and on railway lines H, K, U, one train in five on RER C and D, as well as on lines J, L, N, R, and one in ten on the RER E and line P.
In Paris, on the RATP network, two metros out of three during the day run on line 4. Traffic will be normal on lines 1 and 14 (automated) only. Line 6 is open from 5:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. with one train out of three on average, like line 12 – one train out of four during off-peak hours. The other lines are only open at peak times (6:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.) and on certain sections. The SNCF and the RATP in Ile-de-France have already announced that in addition to Tuesday, traffic would also be very disrupted on Wednesday, all the unions having called for renewable strikes.
In the air, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has asked companies to reduce their flight schedules on Tuesday and Wednesday, by 20% at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and by 30% at Paris-Orly, Beauvais, Bordeaux, Lille, Lyon, Nantes, Marseille, Montpellier, Nice and Toulouse. Air France plans to operate nearly eight out of ten flights, including all of its long-haul flights, without excluding “last minute delays and cancellations”. Protesters also began to block an important road in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine), the national 24, overnight from Monday to Tuesday.
Fuel shipments blocked
The secretary general of CGT Energy, Sébastien Ménesplier, has forecast a “dark week” in the sector, with production cuts mainly in nuclear power. For fuels, his counterpart from the CGT-Chemistry, for his part announced “shipments blocked at the exit of all refineries” on Tuesday morning.
If these blockages continue, they could lead to the shutdown of refineries, which would no longer have room to store the fuel produced on site, and to shortages at the stations as last October, even if the oil professionals estimated Tuesday this scenario still unlikely.
In gas, three of the four LNG terminals in France were shut down for “seven days” on Monday by the unions, and French gas storage sites should also be affected on Tuesday. At EDF, the movement started Friday afternoon at the call of the CGT. The strikers will lower the production of electricity.
Garbage collectors on strike
The garbage collectors are called to the renewable strike by the CGT. In Paris, garbage cans were not collected in four arrondissements on Monday, and one of the three incinerators around the capital, in Paris / Ivry, has been blocked since Monday by city officials (70 according to the police headquarters), preventing waste from being burned there.