King Charles visit to France was canceled due to violent pension protests
Violence in Paris and Villepinte protests against a constitutional amendment to the retirement age hike: The British monarch and the Queen’s daughter
The British monarch and Queen Consort were due to travel to France on Sunday for a trip that would see them visit Paris and the southwestern city of Bordeaux, however a decision to postpone the visit was made after demonstrations turned violent in some areas on Thursday.
More than 1 million people demonstrated across France on Thursday to oppose unpopular pension reforms, as violence erupted in some places as unions called for new nationwide strikes and protests next week.
Opponents of the retirement age hike were still hoping for a rejection of the measure in parliament. But the government forced it through using a special constitutional measure.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, visiting police headquarters Thursday night as fires still burned in some Paris neighborhoods, gave assurance that security “poses no problem” and the British monarch will be “welcomed and welcomed well.”
The minister said there were troublemakers that wanted to take down the state and kill the police.
A day after he angered his critics by standing firm on the retirement bill, the demonstrations were held in his home town of Villepinte.
The unions organizing protests said that the social and union movement shows the determination of the world of workers and youth to withdraw the reform. It called for localized action this weekend and new nationwide strikes and protests Tuesday.
More than 1 Million Demonstration Across France Against Pension Reforms: France’s Largest Police Controversy
In Paris, street battles between police and black-clad, masked groups who attacked at least two fast food restaurants, a supermarket and a bank reflected intensifying violence and drew attention away from the tens of thousands of peaceful marchers.
Police, using tear gas, charged at the rioters multiple times and were hit with Molotov cocktails. A haze of tear gas fumes covered part of the Place de l’Opera, where demonstrators converged at the march’s end. Some 1,500 radicals were claimed by Darmanin.
Violence marred other marches, notably in the western cities of Nantes, Rennes and Lorient — where an administrative building was attacked and the courtyard of the police station was set afire and its windows broken — and in Lyon, in the southeast.
A new law is needed to keep the retirement funds afloat, but the Frenchman refused to budge from his position. Opponents proposed other solutions, including higher taxes on the wealthy or companies, which Macron says would hurt the economy. He insisted the government’s bill to raise the retirement age must be implemented by the end of the year.
The chief of the moderate trade union said that they are trying to find a way out before the law is enacted.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/03/24/1165759889/more-than-1-million-demonstrate-across-france-against-pension-reforms
Paris strikers protest in solidarity with the Paris CPV, the P2P V8, the LRT, Tevatron and the ILC
There was a lot of disruption to the high-speed and regional trains and the Paris metro. 30% of flights at Paris Orly Airport were canceled.
The Education Ministry said that 25% of teachers walked off the job in public schools on Thursday.
Several hundred strikers walked on railway tracks at the Gare de Lyon train station, chanting “and we will go, and we will go until withdrawal” and “Macron go away.”
“This year perhaps maybe our holidays won’t be so great,” said Maxime Monin, 46, who stressed that employees like himself, who work in public transport, are not paid on strike days. “But I think it’s worth the sacrifice.”
Some union members in the northern suburbs of Paris blocked a bus depot, preventing more than 200 vehicles from leaving during rush hour.
