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New Day of Strikes and Marches in France as Pension Anger Persists Strikes, Marches and Clashes in France as Pension Anger Persists
(about 4 hours later)
Workers went on strike and demonstrators marched around France on Thursday for the first big day of protests since President Emmanuel Macron shoved an increase of the retirement age to 64 from 62 through Parliament without a full vote, a test of the unions’ ability to maintain their pressure and the president’s ability to weather it. Huge street protests and widespread strikes rocked France on Thursday as demonstrators mounted a fierce display of resistance to a new law raising the retirement age and of fury at President Emmanuel Macron, who bypassed a full vote in Parliament to force the measure through.
Mr. Macron’s decision last week to force through the pension bill and the subsequent failure to remove his government with a no-confidence vote ended the parliamentary battle over the overhaul, and it set the stage for the next phase: An increasingly bitter stalemate. The outpouring of protest, marked by clashes with the police, came a day after Mr. Macron doubled down on pushing retirement back from 62 to 64, characterizing the reform as “unpopular” but “necessary.” But if he seemed determined not to back down, so did the protesters.
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators were expected to take to the streets around the country for the ninth day of nationwide protests since January. One in five teachers were on strike, train service was disrupted nationwide, protesters blocked ports and roads, and famous tourist spots, like the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the nearby Château de Versailles, were shuttered. “The government was counting on the movement losing steam,” Philippe Martinez, the leader of the Confédération Générale du Travail, France’s second-largest union, told reporters at the start of the protest in Paris on Thursday.
“The government was counting on the movement losing steam,” Philippe Martinez, the leader of the Confédération Générale du Travail, or C.G.T., France’s second-largest union, told reporters at the protest in Paris. But, he added, “The resolve is still very strong.” “The determination is there,” Mr. Martinez said. “The willingness to fight is there, and the objective is the same: repeal the law.”
The size of the protests on Thursday will be closely watched. Mr. Macron is hoping to ride out them out until they fizzle so that the pension changes can be implemented by the end of the year, while the united front of labor unions that has spearheaded the marches wants to sustain pressure from the street and with strikes. Though most marchers remained peaceful, there was a surge in violence in some cities, among them Paris, Nantes and Rennes, where groups of black-clad and masked protesters smashed windows, lit fires and threw cobblestones and bottles at the riot police, who responded with tear gas, water cannons and dispersal grenades. About 12,000 officers were deployed across France on Thursday to police the protests, including 5,000 in Paris.
The head of the country’s largest union condemned all violence.
“We have to keep public opinion with us until the end, Laurent Berger, the head of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor, warned at the march’s start.
By the time the march in Paris reached its final destination four hours later, protesters were coughing and sneezing through clouds of tear gas. The police had cordoned off most exits.
Across the country, daily life was disrupted.
One in five teachers was on strike, train service and regional flights were reduced, and many oil refineries and fuel depots were blocked by strikers, sparking fears of gas shortages. Famous tourist spots were shuttered, including the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the nearby Château de Versailles.
Students blocked access to dozens of high schools and universities, protesters blocked ports and roads, and electricity workers said they had briefly cut power to symbolic locations — like the president’s official summer residence in southern France.
It all amounted to what was clearly the biggest challenge Mr. Macron has faced since his re-election last year.
“It was a social crisis, and we have moved to a political crisis — one might even say a crisis of the regime, because the president is increasingly isolated,” said Karel Yon, a sociologist and expert on French unions and social movements at the University of Paris Nanterre.“It was a social crisis, and we have moved to a political crisis — one might even say a crisis of the regime, because the president is increasingly isolated,” said Karel Yon, a sociologist and expert on French unions and social movements at the University of Paris Nanterre.
Mr. Macron’s decision to push the bill through Parliament has kept the labor movement united and fueled the anger that has energized the protests, Mr. Yon said. He noted that blockages of factories or roads, nighttime youth demonstrations, and other sporadic and sometimes more radical actions were now emerging “outside of the traditional union framework,” without undermining it so far. Last week, Mr. Macron’s government survived a no-confidence vote in Parliament set off by his decision to push the retirement change through without a full vote — but Thursday made clear that the street is not done having its say.
Many subway lines in the Paris metro were running at half capacity or less on Thursday, and protesters blocked road access to a terminal at the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport, northeast of the capital. Students also blocked or demonstrated in front of dozens of high schools and universities. Since then, France has thronged with protest, with organized union actions around the country and many smaller, spontaneous protests breaking out at night. These are led mostly by youths who chant and light afire the piles of garbage clogging the city because of strikes by garbage workers.
Many oil refineries and fuel depots around the country were still blocked or shut down, with growing fears that gas stations could run dry despite efforts by authorities to commandeer workers in certain areas. Electricity workers said that they had briefly cut power from symbolic locations — like the presidency’s official summer residence in southern France. “The union marches have shown their limits,” said Hélène Aldeguer, a comic book artist who marched in all eight national union-organized protests before deciding to join in with the spontaneous ones. “People think that mode of protest doesn’t work.”
In a television interview on Wednesday, Mr. Macron said his only regret was his inability to convince a skeptical France that the age increase was urgently necessary to stave off future deficits in the pension system — an urgency that his opponents firmly dispute. In his television interview on Wednesday, Mr. Macron characterized his decision to champion the retirement change as one of responsible governance. He said that he had known it would be unpopular, but that it would ensure the country’s pension system’s long-term viability. His only regret, he said, was that he hadn’t managed to get the country to agree with him.
“There aren’t 36 solutions,” Mr. Macron said. “This reform is necessary.” While Mr. Macron said he was listening to anger rising off the street, he offered no concessions. “There aren’t 36 solutions,” he said. “This reform is necessary.”
Labor unions organized several mass marches around the country in the months before Mr. Macron rammed through the pension changes, and smaller, scattered and spontaneous protests broke out in cities around the country afterward. Many were peaceful, but others were marred by burned trash, vandalized property and clashes with riot police. Mr. Yon, the sociologist, said Mr. Macron’s inflexibility has “reactivated the feeling of a disconnect with the state and its institutions” that marked the Yellow Vest crisis of Mr. Macron’s first term. That protest movement emerged spontaneously, outside a union or political framework, amid anger over a fuel tax, then morphed into far broader and sometimes violent protests.
On Wednesday Mr. Macron warned that he would not tolerate any “excesses.” “The Yellow Vests were the only social movement of the past years that made the government back down,” Mr. Yon said.
About 12,000 police officers were deployed across France on Thursday to secure the protests, including 5,000 in Paris. At midday, French television showed protesters in Rennes and Nantes clashing with riot police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons. That hope, along with fury at the intransigence of their president, is what drew thousands out to the streets on Thursday.
The government’s response to the protests has also fueled accusations of police brutality, large-scale corralling of demonstrators, and unwarranted preventive arrests — recriminations that were familiar during the Yellow Vest protests that rocked France for weeks during Mr. Macron’s first term. One protester, Christèle Le Manac’h, said she had been close to abandoning the fight. But then she saw Mr. Macron “smirking on national television yesterday,” she said.
Claire Hédon, France’s defender of rights — an official ombudsman who citizens can petition if they believe their rights have been violated — warned in a statement this week that she was “worried” by videos circulating on social media and by reports of police misconduct, and would “remain vigilant.” “Smiles are not welcome these days,” said Ms. Le Manac’h, 57, an export controller, who was in a crowd of protesters in Paris dotted by giant union balloons and flags. “How can he just grin while talking about our pensions?”
Mr. Yon, the sociologist, said that the more radical demonstrations that had emerged over the past week were reminiscent of the Yellow Vest protests — a spontaneous movement that emerged outside of a union or political framework because of anger over a fuel tax but that morphed into much broader and sometimes violent anger. Faced with enormous protests, she pointed out, the French government scrapped a youth-jobs contract in 2006 after it had become law. “It worked in 2006,” she said. “Why can’t it work now?”
Mr. Macron’s refusal to change course despite the unpopularity of the pension overhaul has “reactivated the feeling of a disconnect with the state and its institutions” that was prevalent during the Yellow Vest crisis, Mr. Yon said. The government’s critics say its response to the protests has worsened the crisis, as it did during the Yellow Vest protests. Once again, there have been accusations of police brutality and reports of the large-scale corralling of demonstrators and preventive arrests.
And, he added, “the Yellow Vests were the only social movement of the past years that made the government back down.” Claire Hédon, France’s defender of rights — an official ombudsman whom citizens can petition if they believe their rights have been violated — said this week that she was “worried” by videos circulating on social media and by reports of police misconduct. She pledged to “remain vigilant.”
While labor unions have kept a united front, the prospect of more radical actions holds the potential to divide them. “We have to keep public opinion with us until the end,” Laurent Berger, the head of the C.F.D.T., or French Democratic Confederation of Labor, told reporters at the protest in Paris. “We need nonviolent actions that don’t disrupt citizens’ daily lives.” Some believe that despite the fierce public passions, the retirement law’s opponents have already lost the battle.
Opponents of Mr. Macron have also filed legal challenges against his pension overhaul. While the changes have now become law, they will be reviewed by the Constitutional Council, which examines legislation to ensure it complies with the Constitution. A ruling is expected within the next month. “The unions did everything to maintain unity, to mobilize, and they did that very well,” said Guy Groux, a sociologist at Sciences Po who specializes in political activism and trade unions. “But the reform has been pushed through and will stand until the Constitutional Council rules on it in one month.”
Even if the law stands, Mr. Macron’s party, Renaissance, and its centrist allies have only a slim majority in Parliament, and the dispute over pensions has added to doubts about his ability to get his policies enacted. Opponents of Mr. Macron have filed legal challenges against his pension overhaul with the council, which examines legislation to ensure it complies with the Constitution.
The government has already been forced to postpone an immigration bill that was supposed to come up for debate in the Senate, France’s upper house, next week, because it was unclear whether a majority of lawmakers would back it. Mr. Groux predicted that, like past protests against changes to the much-lauded French retirement system, the movement new would fizzle — even the spontaneous protests — “and Macron will still have four more years as president of France.”
But Mr. Macron’s allies say they are confident that the turbulence is temporary. Even if that is the case, Mr. Macron’s party, Renaissance, and its centrist allies have only a slim majority in Parliament, and the dispute over pensions has added to doubts about his ability to get his policies enacted.
Sacha Houlié, a Renaissance lawmaker who chairs the National Assembly’s law committee, acknowledged that the government had failed to convince people about the merits of the pension law and was hoping to defuse the crisis by shifting to less divisive issues, like enshrining the right to abortion in the Constitution or improving end-of-life care. Already, the government has been forced to postpone an immigration bill that was supposed to come up for debate in the Senate, France’s upper house, next week, because it was unclear whether a majority of lawmakers will back it.
But Mr. Houlié also noted that the government had gotten other laws through the lower house despite its weak majority, like a new nuclear investment plan that was adopted with a large majority this week, one day after the cabinet narrowly survived the no-confidence vote. Mr. Macron’s allies say they are confident the turbulence is temporary.
Sacha Houlié, a Renaissance lawmaker who leads the National Assembly’s law committee, acknowledged that the government had failed to convince people about the merits of the pension law, but he noted that it had gotten other laws through the lower house despite its weak majority, like a new nuclear investment plan that was adopted with a large majority this week, one day after the cabinet narrowly survived the no-confidence vote.
“There are political difficulties that are significant, there is a social crisis which is important," Mr. Houlié said. “But the idea that we’re now blocked is false.”“There are political difficulties that are significant, there is a social crisis which is important," Mr. Houlié said. “But the idea that we’re now blocked is false.”
Mr. Macron now wants his prime minister to seek out lawmakers from other parties willing to work with his majority on certain bills, but opponents did not seem eager to cooperate. Mr. Macron has asked his prime minister to seek out lawmakers from other parties still willing to work with his majority on some bills, but opponents do not seem eager to cooperate.
“Emmanuel Macron has brought the country into a political and social dead end,” Olivier Faure, the head of the Socialist Party, told the newspaper Libération on Thursday. “Who wants to govern with him?”“Emmanuel Macron has brought the country into a political and social dead end,” Olivier Faure, the head of the Socialist Party, told the newspaper Libération on Thursday. “Who wants to govern with him?”
Constant Méheut and Catherine Porter contributed reporting. Constant Méheut, Tom Nouvian and Liz Alderman contributed reporting.