Do not let go after three long months of struggle. Do not resign yourself when the Constitutional Council has not yet rendered its decision. Hold on, always, pound the pavement, again. To say and repeat his opposition to the pension reform, to the increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. To reaffirm, too, the legitimacy of the street against that of the ballot box.
Fatigue is clearly felt but the demonstrators marched for the twelfth time, Thursday April 13, in Paris and everywhere in France. The participation records are far away, the attendance having dropped for the third time in a row. In the capital, the Prefecture of police counted 42,000 demonstrators (against 57,000 on April 6) while the CGT claims 400,000. A shortness of breath observed almost everywhere. This is the case in Bordeaux (between 6,200 and 40,000 people), Toulouse (9,000 to 70,000), Nantes (10,000 to 25,000), Rennes (6,500 to 15,000), Strasbourg ( 3,400 to 9,500) or in Limoges (2,000 to 13,000). In the processions hover like a late-night atmosphere. Remain the inveterate revelers, who want to enjoy until the end of the last moments.
In Lyon, the demonstration, which brought together 9,900 people according to the prefecture, 22,000 according to the inter-union, began with flowers, hung by Solidaires firefighters on the shields of the CRS. It ended, three kilometers later, in clashes and tear gas, place Charles-Hernu in Villeurbanne. For Stephane Front, “it may be the last stand”. The 61-year-old archivist has “fear it will be the last”. His wife, Delphine, admits that “financially, it’s exhausting”. “If the Constitutional Council cancels provisions of the law, we will be legalistic, but all this will leave traces”says the librarian of 51 years.
“Ready to fight for a long time”
Because all eyes are now on the Constitutional Council, which must render its decision on Friday April 14. Dozens of mobile gendarmes in serried ranks protected the institution on rue de Montpensier, located on the route of the Parisian procession going from the Place de l’Opéra to that of the Bastille. The Paris police chief, Laurent Nuñez, also announced on Thursday that any demonstration would be prohibited near the Thursday evening proceedings. “Saturday 4 hours”.
Hopes of seeing the law censored are, however, quite low among opponents of the reform. “I am convinced that the law will be validated with perhaps one or two elements challenged”, considers Fabien, 38 years old. This history teacher in the Oise “don’t expect anything anymore”it is for him “the best way not to be disappointed”. However, everyone has their own prognosis. Agathe and Charlotte, in master’s degree at Paris-VIII, came to demonstrate ” for the first time “. The two young girls “hope” that the law will be deemed unconstitutional, but do not have too many illusions. “For tomorrow, I don’t know, but if we didn’t believe in it at all, we wouldn’t be here.insists Charlotte. My parents are teachers and very mobilized, they will be impacted by the reform, it’s unbearable for them, that’s also why I’m mobilizing. »
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