Railway workers on the tracks, blocked establishments, demonstrators on the roundabouts… This 10th day of mobilization at the call of the inter-union was particularly rich in blocking actions. The movement is “still very supported” by the population, welcomed Laurent Berger, from the Place de la République, from where the Parisian demonstration started.
Among the highlights of this day: the closure of the Eiffel Tower, or even hotel demonstrators in Marseille who encourage customers to participate in their strike fund.
Le Parisien takes stock of the main actions carried out on Tuesday.
The movement of garbage collectors suspended Wednesday in Paris
Garbage collectors multiplied actions across France on Tuesday. The Aubervilliers dump truck depot was blocked early this morning by collection employees denouncing the requisitioning of personnel. The dam then became filtering with the arrival of the police later in the morning.
The waste was piling up this morning in Marseille, and especially in the wealthy neighborhoods, even if the garbage collectors of the city are not officially on strike. In the afternoon on Tuesday, the CGT finally announced that the strike movement would be suspended from Wednesday. But the union ensures that the agents intend to leave “stronger” on strike.
Striking railway workers on the tracks of the Gare de Lyon
The railway workers multiplied the fronts on Tuesday. 300 to 400 demonstrators took to the tracks of the Gare de Lyon to temporarily interrupt rail traffic. Among them, trade unionists from the South and CGT SNCF, but also agents from the RATP and activists from Sud Énergie, are on the main lines. The Guéret train station, in Creuse, was closed by activists.
The provisional rate of strikers reached 16.5% Tuesday noon at the SNCF. A mobilization down from the previous ones.
Several roads blocked by protesters
The Rennes ring road was obstructed by demonstrators installed on benches, causing 45 km of traffic jams later in the day. The Caen ring road was also blocked in both directions by around 150 people very early this morning. In Nantes, the FO Transports launched a “total blockage” operation and the ring road was blocked for several hours. The Paris ring road had suffered the same fate last week.
Two large Lille roundabouts serving a logistics center were also occupied by a hundred demonstrators, causing disruption on the A1 linking Lille to Paris.
Closed airports and reduced air traffic
Civil aviation has also been affected by this mobilization against the pension reform. Quimper and Montpellier airports were closed this morning. The air traffic controllers’ strike has repercussions on all European traffic. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation once again asked airlines on Tuesday to give up part of their flights on Thursday and Friday, in particular at Paris-Orly, because of the strike by air traffic controllers against the pension reform.
The blockage of refineries causes the first shortages in Île-de-France
After Provence and the West, Île-de-France is in turn affected by fuel shortages, according to government data. In three departments of the Paris region, more than a third of the service stations thus lack this morning of at least one type of fuel (gasoline and/or diesel) that they offered on March 1: this is the case of Val- de-Marne (44.05%), Essonne (38%) and Yvelines (33.6%).
In refineries, disruptions are still ongoing. At TotalEnergies, that of Normandy is at a standstill. In Donges (Loire-Atlantique) and La Mede (Bouches-du-Rhône), shipments are interrupted, according to management. The Feyzin refinery (Rhône) is operating at reduced flow, according to management. At Esso-ExxonMobil, the shutdown of the Port-Jérôme-Gravenchon refinery (Seine-Maritime) continues, and shipments are still blocked on Tuesday, according to management.
The movement hardens in schools
The ministry reports 53 incidents in France in front of schools, including 14 blockages, 27 filter blockages, seven attempted blockages and five other forms of disruption. In Paris, blockages, often filtering, were installed in front of several high schools, including Montaigne (6th arrondissement), Lavoisier (5th), Monet (13th) or Turgot (3rd). And in its suburbs, two colleges in Montreuil were affected. A Lyon, a historic blockage took place at the Manufacture des Tabacs, of the Lyon III University, blocked for the first time since the beginning of the movement.
Many universities followed suit, with eight establishments in Paris including Sciences-po Paris and Paris I. In the regions, this was also the case for Lille 1 and 3, Lyon 2 and 3, Nice, Poitiers, Pau, Grenoble, Toulouse 2 and Tours.
However, fewer teachers went on strike. They were only 8.37% today against 21.41% last Thursday.