Lit garbage cans, sieges at oil refineries, disruptions to local and long-distance transport: Since the French government pushed the controversial pension reform through parliament without a final vote using Special Article 49.3, there have been ongoing demonstrations and riots across the country. A radicalization of the protest is feared. The government now has to face a vote of no confidence on Monday because of its actions.
On Thursday, Emmanuel Macron’s government pushed through the controversial pension reform with Article 49.3. A procedure that was criticized by trade unions and the opposition as a “denial of democracy”. Since then there have been protests and riots across the country.
As the television broadcaster BFMTV reported Sunday, citing the Ministry of the Interior, 169 people were arrested nationwide on Saturday, 122 of them in Paris. There, people set fire to garbage cans and tried to set up barricades. The police used water cannon and tear gas. 4,200 demonstrators are said to have come to the rally.
Protests essentially still pacifist
The protest shifted to the south of the metropolis. After the riots on Thursday and Friday on the Place de la Concorde near the Parliament building, the prefecture had banned gatherings in the central square and the adjacent Champs-Elysées.
Many fear that after the government’s actions in parliament, the protests will intensify. Undoubtedly, its use sparked widespread anger, said Laurent Frajerman, a specialist in radical movements at BFMTV. But still the protests remained essentially pacifist.
The French unions had warned the government days ago that the protest would become more radical. France’s largest refinery near Le Havre has been idle since Friday. The TotalEnergies refinery in Donges near Nantes has been out of operation since March 7th. According to information from the regional newspaper “Ouest-France”, further closures could follow by Monday, such as in Lavéra in southern France.
Pension reform is Macron’s most important reform project
On Monday the government faces two motions of no confidence over its use of Article 49.3. However, it is unlikely that one of these motions will win a majority vote and the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne will be overthrown.
The pension reform is considered President Macron’s most important reform project. Worried at the last minute on Thursday that not enough MPs might vote for them, the government resorted to Article 49.3 of the Constitution to push the plan through. For weeks, the unions have been protesting against the reform, which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64, with strikes and mass demonstrations. The unions announced a big day of strikes on Thursday.
