France: Violent protests against pension reform – Macron wants to speak publicly

Violent protests against the pension reforms that had been passed broke out again in several French cities. According to media reports, 46 people were arrested in Paris on Wednesday night after police officers were attacked with projectiles and demonstrators set fire to garbage cans and scooters. The police used tear gas against some of the approximately 3,500 demonstrators. According to the newspaper “Le Parisien”, there were also protests with thousands of participants in Lille, Grenoble, Rennes, Nantes and Le Mans. President Emmanuel Macron wants to speak publicly in a television interview this Wednesday. The Elysée Palace announced that he would be interviewed live on the midday news for half an hour. He should try to relax the difficult situation.

France: Anger after pension reform

As early as Tuesday evening, he said that the anger of the French had to be “appeased” and “heard” after the controversial passage of the law. At the same time, according to media reports, he said the crowd had no legitimacy over the elected representatives. There was also displeasure among many people because the strikes in garbage collection and oil depots continued and individual gas stations ran out of fuel. On Monday evening, almost 300 people were arrested during the violent protests across France. The reform to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 was passed earlier after the rejection of two no-confidence motions tabled by the opposition. It is considered one of Macron’s most important projects. Last Thursday, the government decided at the last minute to push the project through without a vote by the National Assembly. There have been repeated strikes and violent protests against the reform in France for weeks.

Big day of action on Thursday

Another day of action is planned for Thursday. According to “Le Parisien”, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that around 12,000 police officers would be deployed, 5,000 of them in Paris. This would be the largest contingent since the protests against pension reforms began. In order to close the impending gap in the pension fund, France’s central government under Macron wants to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Currently, the retirement age in France is 62 years. In fact, retirement begins later on average: those who have not paid in long enough to receive a full pension work longer. At the age of 67 there is then a pension without any deductions, regardless of how long it has been paid in – the government wants to keep this, even if the number of years required to pay in for a full pension is to increase more quickly. She wants to increase the monthly minimum pension to around 1,200 euros.