2023-05-01 15:04:25
Tidal wave or last stand? The authorities are planning between 500,000 and 650,000 demonstrators for this day of May 1, in the wake of the mobilizations against the pension reform. For the moment, the first figures do not seem to show as massive a participation as the inter-union hoped. However, they remain higher than in 2022 and 2021.
“This May 1st is one of the strongest of the social movement”, greeted the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet. His CFDT counterpart, Laurent Berger, boasted “a very big mobilization”. With a May 1st that it wishes to be “festive” and “combative”, the inter-union intends to show that it is not giving up the fight against pension reform, even if the strategies on the continuation of the movement could quickly diverge.
The procession set off in Paris, between 80,000 and 100,000 demonstrators expected
Between 80,000 and 100,000 people are expected to demonstrate this afternoon in Paris, according to the authorities. The procession set off from the Place de la République towards the Nation, with the presence of trade unionists from all over the world. The authorities are also expecting 1,500 to 3,000 “yellow vests”, and 1,000 to 2,000 “at risk” individuals.
To supervise this mobilization, 5,000 police and gendarmes will be mobilized in Paris. The use of drones by the police has also been authorized by prefectural order. The drones, whose use by the police is authorized via a decree dated April 19, also fly over the processions of Nantes, Bordeaux or Lyon. In Rouen, the prefectural decree was partially suspended, the court having decided to restrict the perimeter of use.
Before the Parisian procession set off, Jean-Luc Mélenchon spoke on the Place de la République: “Don’t give in!”, He asked the demonstrators. “The fight continues, until the withdrawal” of the pension reform. Before adding: “Down with the bad republic!”
Violence in Lyon, tensions in Nantes
Groups of thugs disrupted the Lyon demonstration, which began in the morning. “Violent individuals commit damage to businesses and throw projectiles at the police”, alerted the prefecture on its Twitter account. Vehicles were also set on fire.
The prefecture specified that two arrests had already been made. “These criminal behaviors must be unanimously condemned,” she said, also welcoming that the use of drones by the police has made it possible “to detect a movement of radical elements wishing to take it to the town hall”.
In Nantes, clashes between violent demonstrators and the police also broke out in the city center, less than an hour after the start of the parade, which brought together 17,500 people according to the police, around 80,000 according to the CGT . While many black blocks were in the procession, the first throwing of projectiles at the police, followed by tear gas, occurred at the Quai de la Fosse about half an hour after the departure of the procession, according to AFP journalists on the spot. Other clashes also broke out around 1:30 p.m. at the prefecture level. The windows of a Uniqlo store in the city center were shattered by cobblestones on the first floor, with the ground floor of the store protected by wooden panels following damage during a previous demonstration, according to a AFP journalist. Police arrested at least 14 protesters, according to the prefecture.
A demonstrator was injured in the hand and taken care of by the Samu, we learned from the prefecture. No details on the circumstances of the accident or the severity of the injury were available at the start of the afternoon.
11,000 demonstrators in Marseille, 14,000 in Clermont-Ferrand
The first processions set off in the morning in Toulouse, Amiens or even Mulhouse. According to the police, there were 8,700 demonstrators in Strasbourg (15,000 according to the unions), 7,300 in Lille (15,000), 11,000 in Marseille (130,000), 13,500 in Toulouse (100,000) and 14,000 in Clermont -Ferrand (25,000). In total, rallies are planned in 300 French cities.
#Parisian #procession #left #tensions #Nantes #Lyon