Mines devoured by fear, they found their faces of children. Placards thrown away, slogans muffled, no one flinched. The party is over. About fifteen young high school and university students wait in rows of police vans to be taken into custody. Hands pressed against a wall in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, they failed to slip through the cracks of the police. They are arrested for “grouping to commit violence and degradation”.
Thursday, February 16 in the morning, the procession of a hundred young people had yet set off in peace. Leaving the Sorbonne, he was to join the university of Tolbiac. Target ultimately not reached. A meeting at the call of several student unions and high school students to protest, too, against the pension reform, just before the inter-union march organized in the afternoon. Since the beginning of the social mobilization, several processions of young people have appeared in the ranks of the demonstrators. If, for the time being, the blockages remain quite marginal – only a few universities are occupied – it is in the street that the youth seeks to be heard.
In front of the portal of the Sorbonne, Zoé concedes: “Yes, the pension reform does not affect us immediately.” But for the young student in history and law, this is not a reason not to mobilize. “This reform is social damage. An open door to liberalism,” she annoys. Drowned in a too large perfecto, her hands curled up in her sleeves, the young woman remains discreet. She is holding a sign that she hardly dares to lift, preferring to chant a few slogans in a more anonymous crowd. Quickly, the demonstration takes over the narrow streets of the Latin Quarter. No music, no tanks. No giant balloons either. The demonstration was not declared to the prefecture, becoming then as many welcome it “wild”. “We are young, determined and revolutionary”, shout the majority.
At the heart of this procession that became hubbub, Luna and Lucile carry a rose in their hands. That of “the revolution”. These two students in first class are wondering about their professional integration. “By pushing back the retirement age, it’s less work for young people.” commented on the first, quickly taken up by her friend. “If you work two more years, there are bound to be fewer jobs available for those looking to enter the workforce.”
“Young revolutionaries” and incidents
The majority of these self-proclaimed “young revolutionaries”, therefore, already display a very marked political commitment. Accustomed to social mobilizations and “struggles”, fearing “an authoritarian drift”. The barely emerging beard, the hair carefully slicked back, Ritchy Thibault is familiar with the demonstrations. Barely major, here he is invested against the reform project. “Our generation has a moral duty to oppose it. If we don’t, we will live in a destroyed world.” This former (very young) yellow vest is annoyed that “some people don’t understand the young people who demonstrate.”
What if it bothers? “Too bad,” Ritchy replies. “If at our age they were idiots, well we are not,” criticizes the young activist. On the improvised course, the crash arouses some curiosities. The curtains are drawn and heads stick out the windows. “They are right to oppose,” says a passerby. “It’s them who will toast tomorrow,” he continues. A few encouragements and approvals, which lead the small procession on its way.
After about thirty minutes, incidents broke out. A dozen young hooded people recover cobblestones, glass bottles and pieces of scaffolding. The projectiles are first thrown on a company of mobile gendarmes, which does not reply. Quickly, barricades are erected on the way and garbage cans set on fire. Further on, a vigipirate vehicle is targeted. The rear window explodes, facing dumbfounded passers-by who, this time, no longer condone. A resurgence of violence supported by most of the young people present. “We need both peaceful mobilizations and tougher movements,” say Alixia and Alma. These two law students – a “very closed” environment according to them – are tired of not being heard. “There is not much that works”, they justify. Right next door, Gaël is not of the same opinion. Several bank windows are attacked, it is too much. “I ended up calling the cops,” says the engineering student.
A reform “not in the sense of ecological reality”
The atmosphere is different in the afternoon in the declared inter-union procession. Not far from the 13th arrondissement, the young people met just a stone’s throw from the Bastille, boulevard Henri IV. Here, the music resonates. The flags of trade unions and political parties are proudly hoisted. That of Marianne Floch is all green. This young environmental activist crosses the Sully bridge with other committed young people. She denounces a reform that values ”once again productivity.” At 22, the history student is worried. “It does not go in the direction of ecological reality. We are calling for a retirement at 60, it is more suited to environmental issues,” says Marianne.
In the ranks of the demonstrators, many young people believe that it is their duty to show solidarity with their elders. When the procession arrived in Place d’Italie, Alice came to speak for her mother, who cannot be present. “She can’t afford to lose a day’s pay.” Alice runs her hand through her hair and pauses. She bites her lip. She too is worried about the work environment that awaits her. In her ambitions to become an English teacher, she tries to forget the “working conditions which are not good”, and the other reforms which will come by then “raise the retirement age ten times more.”