French unions are planning ‘local local rallies’ this weekend to continue the protest against the pension reform. This text triggered two motions of censure to try to overthrow the government and mobilizations.
The inter-union called on Thursday, in the wake of the appeal by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows the adoption of a text without a vote, except motion of censure, to rallies this Saturday and Sunday, as well as a ninth day of strikes and demonstrations on Thursday 23 March.
The SNCF unions are calling on them to “maintain the renewable strike” started on the 7th and “to act massively” next Thursday. Four TGV connections between Paris and Switzerland were canceled on Saturday and three on Sunday, according to the Lyria company website.
The CGT also announced the shutdown of the TotalEnergie refinery in Normandy this weekend.
clashes
Friday evening, several thousand people gathered in the evening at Place de la Concorde, in Paris, a few hundred meters from the National Assembly. A fire blazed, lit by demonstrators, and the atmosphere became tense at nightfall, according to AFP journalists.
Hundreds of people clashed with the police in small groups, throwing projectiles. Around 9:30 p.m. the place was completely evacuated. According to the police headquarters, 61 people were arrested there in the evening.
In Strasbourg, it was on Place Kléber that 1,600 protesters gathered. “We too will go through in force,” chanted the demonstrators. The prefecture reported ‘degradation’ in the city center, but no arrests.
Incidents in Lyon
In Lyon, demonstrators burst into a district town hall and lit a fire, but the police quickly extinguished it and arrested 36 people, according to the prefecture.
Also in Lyon, a few hundred young people set fire to garbage cans, overturned scooters, smashed billboards, threw firecrackers and tagged shop windows, chanting: ‘Whose is it? Whose? It’s up to us!’, according to an AFP journalist on the spot. The police responded by using tear gas.
A thousand people marched in the center of Lille and a procession of a few hundred demonstrators dispersed smoothly in Bordeaux.
/ATS