The mobilization against the pension reform remained very strong Thursday in France. A week after the passage in force of the government on this text, the radicalization of the movement resulted in an increase in violence.
In total, 3.5 million people demonstrated in more than 300 cities in France, according to the CGT union, and 1.08 million according to the Ministry of the Interior. A massive mobilization for this 9th day of action, but the first since the government used a constitutional provision, 49.3.
The demonstrations also experienced a resurgence of tensions in several cities in France. Sporadic since the beginning of the mobilization on January 19, the violence has resurfaced sometimes spectacularly, once again monopolizing the antenna of television channels and reviving memories of the popular movement of “yellow vests”.
According to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, 123 gendarmes and police officers were injured during the incidents and more than 80 people arrested. Faced with the rise of radicalization, he announced the mobilization of 12,000 police and gendarmes on Thursday, including 5,000 in Paris. In the evening, Gérald Darmanin, denounced the violence of “ thugs ” from ” far left “. Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne judged Thursday evening “ unacceptable ” THE “ violence and degradation in these demonstrations.
An explosive situation due to Emmanuel Macron, according to Philippe Martinez
Shortly before the start of the Paris demonstration, the secretary general of the moderate CFDT union, Laurent Berger, had called “ to nonviolence “. His CGT counterpart Philippe Martinez had estimated for his part that Emmanuel Macron had “ threw a can of gasoline on the fire “, recalling that the unions had written to him to alert him to the” volatile situation ” from the country.
In Paris, violence erupted at the head of the demonstration with its share of broken windows and destroyed street furniture in reverse of a procession where the vast majority of demonstrators marched peacefully. Throughout the parade, several convenience stores, fast food outlets and banks, according to AFP journalists. Incidents were still ongoing in the early evening, including trash cans and newsstands set on fire.
In Rouen (north-west), a demonstrator in her thirties, who works with disabled children, had a thumb torn off, according to a deputy from La France Insoumise, Alma Dufour, who questions the use of a disencirclement grenade by the police.
In Nantes, demonstrators broke into the administrative court, ransacking the reception and breaking windows and doors. Several businesses were damaged. In Lorient, the police station and the police were targeted by demonstrators, mostly young people with hidden faces. The building’s windows were smashed by projectiles.
In Rennes, the day after a day of clashes between fishermen and the police, tear gas canisters fired in response to the throwing of projectiles and trash fires, plunging the inter-union procession, caught in a vice, in a thick cloud of acrid smoke. Mayor Nathalie Appéré was moved by “ chaos scenes “.
In Bordeaux, the door of the Hôtel de ville was set on fire. The fire was quickly brought under control and extinguished by firefighters. The damage seems to be limited to the entrance of the building.
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