This is one of the “smallest” mobilizations against the pension reform, on the eve of the vote on the text in Parliament, after the agreement found in the joint joint committee. But all the same 1.7 million people marched in the streets of France this Wednesday, March 15, for the eighth day of interprofessional mobilization, according to the CGT. The Ministry of the Interior has counted 480,000.
In Paris, 37,000 people demonstrated against the pension reform, according to a count by the Paris police headquarters, against 48,000 demonstrators last Saturday. The CGT claimed 450,000 demonstrators in the street, more than the last day of mobilization on Saturday (300,000), but less than the record day of March 7 (700,000).
Tensions in some processions
In Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône), 7,000 people marched according to the prefecture, 160,000 according to the inter-union. On March 7, the police had counted 30,000 demonstrators and the unions 245,000. Between 8,500 people, according to the police headquarters, and “nearly 50,000 demonstrators”, according to the unions, demonstrated in Bordeaux (Gironde). In Pau (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), the unions claim 20,000 demonstrators.
Tensions punctuated certain processions, such as in Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine) where many windows were damaged. The prefecture announced 18 arrests. In Saint-Étienne (Loire), clashes took place at midday in front of the premises of the Medef, the police using tear gas and batons to repel demonstrators.
Emmanuel Macron meets Wednesday evening at the Élysée Élisabeth Borne and the main ministers concerned by the pension reform. He does not plan “at this stage” to have it adopted without a vote by a 49.3.