In Paris, where the Interior Ministry spoke of 119,000 demonstrators and the CGT of 800,000 participants, the protests sometimes turned violent. Cobblestones, bottles and firecrackers were thrown at security forces, and shop windows and bus shelters were destroyed. According to Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, around 12,000 police officers were on duty – 5,000 of them in Paris alone.
It was the first day of protests against the reform since Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, on Macron’s instructions, resorted to constitutional paragraph 49.3 to enforce the reform. According to this, a law can be passed without a final vote in Parliament if the government survives a subsequent vote of no confidence. On Monday, the government narrowly escaped being overthrown in such a vote.
In particular, the reform envisages raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030. For weeks there have been repeated violent protests and clashes with the police across the country because of the reform.
