The figures are down in Paris, as everywhere in France. At the end of this seventh day of mobilization against the pension reform, the CGT counted 300,000 demonstrators in the capital, as many as that of February 16 which had recorded the lowest participation since the start of the social movement. The police, for their part, counted 48,000 demonstrators, while the independent firm Occurrence reported 33,000 people. During the last day of mobilization, March 7, the CGT had identified 700,000 demonstrators in Paris, against 81,000 according to the police headquarters.
The Parisian demonstration started around 2 p.m. from the Place de la République in the direction of that of the Nation, which it joined around 6 p.m. “The determination is there, we even went to a stage of great anger, with what the President of the Republic did” on Friday, rejecting the union’s request to meet him, declared the secretary general of the CGT, Philippe Martinez, interviewed by AFP before the departure of the procession. “Since he is so sure of himself, the President of the Republic, he only has to consult the people,” he said.
“As long as it is still possible, we must fight,” said a 58-year-old protester, who held a sign “amateurs and liars”. “We have to mobilize to be able to make the government back down. Even after a vote in force, a 49.3, there will always be the possibility of making the government back down, ”explained to AFP this employee of the aeronautics.
Nearly 4,000 checks
Clashes between black blocks and police disrupted the course, once again interrupting the progression of the procession. Many projectiles were thrown at police and gendarmes, some trash cans were set on fire and stoned windows.
Shortly after 3 p.m., the police intervened to disperse a “block of several hundred disruptors”, who were attacking “a motorcycle shop”, said the Paris police headquarters. They also protected firefighters who came to extinguish garbage cans that had been set on fire in an attempt to erect a barricade, at the level of avenue Daumesnil. In the procession, the CGT “was the victim of projectiles thrown by radical elements and the police intervened”, added the Paris police headquarters.
Some 4,000 police checks were carried out. At 6:30 p.m., 32 people had been arrested in the capital, “in particular for carrying prohibited weapons and participating in a group to commit violence or degradation”.