Scattered protests continue as Paris reels from violence
24 March 2023, 09:34
More than 450 protesters were arrested in Paris and beyond on Thursday.
Protesters angry at French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms have continued with scattered actions amid slowed train traffic, rows of lorries blocking access to Marseille’s commercial port and debris still littering the Paris streets after the previous day’s mass demonstrations.
More than 450 protesters were arrested in Paris and beyond on Thursday as some 300 demonstrations drew more than a million people nationwide to protest against unpopular pension reforms.
Interior minister Gerald Darmanin said on Friday that some 441 police and gendarmes were injured as violence marred some marches.
He said 1,000 rubbish bins were set on fire in the French capital during the previous day’s action.
Amid a weeks-long refuse collectors strike, bins have become a symbol of the protest.
Polls say most French oppose Mr Macron’s Bill to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64, which he says is necessary to keep the system afloat.
The supply of fuel to Paris by the large Gonfreville-L’Orcher refinery in Normandy resumed on Friday after police intervened, according to energy transition minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher.
At the Fos-sur-mer oil terminal near Marseille, however, protesters were meeting to plan future oil refinery blockades.
Fearing disruptions in coming days as actions continue, France’s Civil Aviation Authority has requested that a third of flights be cancelled on Sunday at Paris’s second airport, Orly, with 20% to be cancelled on Monday.
Unions have called for new protests and strikes on Tuesday, when Britain’s King Charles III is scheduled to visit Bordeaux on the second day of his trip to France.
The heavy wooden door of the elegant Bordeaux City Hall was destroyed by fire on Thursday night by people taking part in an unauthorised demonstration.
The mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, said on Friday he had “difficulty understanding the interest of such acts of vandalism”.
Mr Hurmic said he hopes Charles’s visit to his city next week will not be cancelled.
“I hope that we do not give this gift to the thugs,” he said, although he acknowledged that a tram ride with the King may now be off the cards.
The protests have drawn support from beyond France’s borders.
In Greece, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the French embassy in Athens on Thursday to show solidarity.
Protesters chanted slogans and held placards that read “Macron, your democracy hangs on nine votes” and “From Greece: victory for the workers of France”.
