The Police of Paris has arrested more than 200 people for the unrest that took place on Thursday night in the French capital, in protest of the approval by means of an article of the Constitution by the Government of Emmanuel Macron from reform of pensions in Francewhich increases the retirement age of 62 to 64 years.
Specifically, 217 people have been arrested after setting fire to and damaging public furniture and after confronting the security forces, as detailed in a report by the Paris Police headquarters and has been picked up by the BFTM chain.
Thousands of people have gathered in the Place de la Concorde in Parisa few steps from the French Parliament, to denounce the “forced step” of the Executive when making use of article 49.3 of the Constitution for the pension reformwhich had not obtained the support of the National Assembly for it to go ahead.
The police have done use of water cannons and of tear gas to disperse the demonstrators, moving them away from the French National Assembly, as detailed by the aforementioned newspaper. After several hours of riots, the tensions in the streets have come to an end.
While, the main unions in France have announced a big day of demonstrations for next Thursday, March 23 to request the total withdrawal of the reform, while the opposition will present a motion of censure to the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, this Friday.
The protests take place on a day in which the French Government has decided to use article 49.3 of the Constitution, which avoids submitting the pension reform to a vote in the French National Assembly, after verifying that it lacks a sufficient majority to carry out one of the president’s star projects, Emanuel Macron.