The Paris police headquarters argues “serious risks of disturbing public order and safety”. This Saturday noon, after two evenings of demonstrations interspersed with incidents against the use of 49.3 to have the pension reform adopted, it prohibits gatherings at Place de la Concorde, as well as on the Champs-Élysées.
“Because of (…) any gathering on the public highway place de la Concorde and its surroundings as well as in the sector of the avenue des Champs-Élysées is prohibited”, declared the prefecture. “People who try to gather there will be systematically ousted by the police” and may be fined, the same source added.
Thursday, shortly after Elisabeth Borne’s recourse to Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allows the adoption of a text without a vote, except for a motion of censure, the inter-union had called for rallies this weekend. And to a 9th day of strikes and demonstrations on March 23. In the capital, a rally is scheduled for 6 p.m. in Place d’Italie, at the initiative of the CGT Ile-de-France.
61 arrests on Friday
The demonstrations which took place Thursday evening and Friday evening place de la Concorde, a few hundred meters from the National Assembly, were peppered with incidents. As night fell, hundreds of people clashed with the police in small groups, throwing projectiles.
On Friday, when 4,000 people gathered in the square, 61 people were arrested, according to the Paris police headquarters. The call had been launched on social networks, and relayed all day on Instagram or Twitter, after a rough first night the day before, marked by many tensions. On Thursday, 10,000 people gathered there and 258 people were arrested.