Protests and strikes against unpopular pension reforms kicked off again in France on Tuesday
Posted Date – Tue, 3/28/23 at 10:45pm
People march during a demonstration in Paris, Tuesday, March 28 (AP Photo)
Paris: Protests and strikes against unpopular pension reforms kicked off again in France on Tuesday, with police ramping up security in response to horrific violence and the government warning that radical demonstrators intend to “destroy, injure and kill”.
Fearing violence would derail the demonstrations, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin called the unprecedented deployment of 13,000 military officers, nearly half of them concentrated in the French capital.
Protests unfolded peacefully across the country on Tuesday morning.
In Paris, strike rail workers with incendiary flares and banners invaded and blocked train tracks serving Gare de Lyon, one of the capital’s main stations.
But police braced for violence later in the day. The interior minister said more than 1,000 “radicalized” troublemakers, some of them from overseas, could seize hold of marches planned for Paris and elsewhere.
“They have come to destroy, injure and kill the police and the gendarmerie. Their goal has nothing to do with pension reform. Their goal is to destabilize our republic and to bring blood and fire in France,” the minister detailed in a statement on Monday. measure said.
Union leaders and political opponents of President Emmanuel Macron have blamed his government for the protest violence that has erupted in recent weeks, saying his pension reforms are sparking violence.
Critics have also accused police of using excessive force against protesters. The police watchdog is investigating multiple allegations of misconduct by officers.
The new wave of strikes and protests is the union’s 10th call for workers to go on strike since January, with demonstrators flooding the streets against Macron’s push to raise France’s mandatory retirement age from 62 to 64.
As the unpopular reform failed to secure a majority in the lower house of parliament, Macron used a special constitutional power to impose it on them, further inflaming protesters.
