The state visit of King Charles to France was put off

Protests against the France pension system and King Charles III’s visit to France for the upcoming State Visit of the King and the Queen

The State Visit of the King and the Queen to France has been put off. Their Majesties greatly look forward to the opportunity to visit France as soon as dates can be found,” a Buckingham Palace spokesperson told CNN.

More than a million people protested in France on Thursday against reforms to the pension system and unions called for more protests in order to coincide with King Charles III’s visit to France.

PARIS — French citizens angry at President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms engaged in scattered protest actions Friday, as the ongoing unrest across the country persuaded officials to postpone a planned state visit by Britain’s King Charles III.

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 that there are often troublemakers who want to take over the institutions and kill the police.

On the same day as the demonstrations, the government pushed through a retirement bill without a vote in parliament.

While the president tries to turn the page, this social and union movement shows how determined the world of workers is to get out of the reform. Localized action this weekend and the countrywide strikes and protests Tuesday are what it called for.

In the past few days have become more violent at protests. Darmanin said that 12,000 security forces were in the French streets Thursday, with 5,000 in Paris,

Police, pelted by Molotov cocktails, objects and fireworks, charged multiple times and used tear gas to disperse rioters. Protesters converge at the end of the march at the Place de l’Opera, covered in a haze of tear gas fumes. Darmanin said radicals numbered some 1,500.

There were riots in the western cities of Rennes, Lorient and Nantes where an administrative building was attacked, and in the southeastern city of Lyon where the police station’s courtyard was set afire.

Disruption of Paris Metro, Transportation and Public Transportation Systems in the First Day of the Paris Sanitation Strikes by Union Members

During an interview Wednesday, he refused to alter his position that there is a need for a new law to keep retirement funds solvent. 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.

“We are trying to say before the law is enacted … that we have to find a way out and we continue to say that the way out is the withdrawal of the law,” the chief of the moderate CFDT trade union, Laurent Berger, told The Associated Press.

The Paris metro and public transportation systems were disrupted. About 30% of flights at Paris Orly Airport were canceled.

The Education Ministry said in a statement that about 24% of teachers walked off the job in primary and middle schools on Thursday, and 15% in high schools.

Hundreds of strikers at Paris’ Gare de Lyon walked on the train tracks, waving flares and chanting “and we will go” and “Macron, go away.”

“Maybe our holidays won’t be as great this year, because we don’t get paid on strike days,” said Monin, who works in public transport. I believe it’s worth the sacrifice.

In the northern suburbs of Paris, several dozen union members blocked a bus depot in Pantin, preventing about 200 vehicles from getting out during rush hour.

There was no major protest planned for Friday, although train traffic was slowed, rows of trucks blocked access to Marseille’s port, and debris littered the streets after the previous day’s mass demonstrations.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said 441 police officers and gendarmes were injured as violence marred some marches. There were 1,000 trash bins set ablaze in the French capital and the overflowing garbage cans have become a symbol of the protests during the weeks long strike by Sanitation workers.

Fires in Paris and refineries prompt protests against the coupling of power and oil in Paris for the Queen’s first visit to France

Charles and Queen Consort Camilla planned to visit both France and Germany during the king’s first trip abroad as Britain’s monarch. He still plans to go to Germany, but British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office said another date would be found for the French leg.

Charles was scheduled to visit the city of Bordeaux on his second day in France. The heavy wooden door of the elegant Bordeaux City Hall was destroyed by fire Thursday night by people taking part in an unauthorized demonstration.

Many fires were deliberately lit in narrow alleys of Paris on Thursday night, alarming both city officials and residents. Firefighters and residents worked together to tame the flames that rose to the second story of an apartment building in the chic Palais Royal area.

Oil refineries have been another protest target. On Friday, emboldened protesters headed to the Fos-sur-mer oil depot near Marseille to stop trucks from entering and leaving. However, fuel supplies to Paris from the large Gonfreville-L’Orcher refinery in Normandy resumed Friday after police intervened, French Energy Transition Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said.