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There are several possible scenarios for the verdict of the Constitutional Council: a censorship of the entire text, the validation of the law or, the most likely option, the partial veto of the reform. The body chaired by former Prime Minister Laurent Fabius must also decide whether to give the green light to start the process to call a shared initiative referendum (RIP) on the pension project, something desired by Nupes, the alliance of left-wing parties .
Hours before knowing their resolution, this Thursday, the French took to the streets once again to say ‘no’ to Macron’s project, demand the withdrawal of the text and pressure the Constitutional Council to knock down the law. It was the twelfth day of strikes and demonstrations since the protests began on January 19 and, as has happened on previous occasions, there was a dance of figures. The French Police counted 380,000 participants in the marches (42,000 of them in Paris), while the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) spoke of more than 1.5 million (400,000 in the capital). In the previous call, on April 6, the authorities added 570,000 demonstrators, compared to the almost 2 million that the power stations calculated.
Unions don’t give up
But, whatever the decision of the Constitutional Council, the detractors of the change in pensions will defend that it is unfair. “Nine very warm retirees are going to help legitimize a bad, unfair and imposed reform,” read the banner that Arturo, a “retired in solidarity” with the workers, carried this Thursday in the demonstration that toured Paris. The unions and the demonstrators showed themselves in this new day of strikes willing to continue with protests in the streets. “It is not the last day of mobilization,” warned Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT, “unless Macron withdraws the text.”
«For three months the workers have been on the streets, not only in Paris, but also in the provinces. There is a will of the workers not to give up, ”explained the Parisian Christine this Thursday. This French teacher isn’t about to “go home quietly” without first getting the president to bury her plan.
Avoid altercations
Demonstrations in the vicinity of the organ’s headquarters have been prohibited since Thursday
A “dump” in the streets
Paris endures a new garbage collectors strike a few days after the previous one was called off
The French Government mobilized 11,500 police officers and gendarmes throughout the country (4,200 in Paris) to try to maintain order on another day of mobilization. In the capital there were some clashes with radical protesters and ten agents from the capital were injured, one seriously, according to the prefecture. It was also reported that 36 protest attendees were detained in the city. This Thursday there are another 131 marches planned against the pension reform and to put pressure on the members of the Constitutional Council to censor the text.
The Paris prefecture has prohibited demonstrations in the vicinity of the headquarters of this body from this Thursday afternoon and until this Friday morning to avoid altercations. In the capital, in addition, the garbage collectors have been on strike again since Thursday. The CGT promised to “transform the streets into a dump” until they achieve the withdrawal of Macron’s reform. In March, workers from the waste collection service stopped for three weeks and there were more than 10,500 tons of waste on the city’s sidewalks.