France Pension Reforms: May Day Rallies Turn Violent - BBC News

May 1, 2023 | Protests in France over controversial pension reforms have turned violent, with demonstrators clashing with police. French President Emmanuel Macron signed into law the reforms, which raise the state pension age from 62 to 64, in April. Unions had vowed to continue opposing the reforms, and had called on workers across France to return to the streets on 1 May.

LIRE AUSSI :

Forte mobilisation pour un 1ᵉʳ-Mai unitaire émaillé de violences dans plusieurs villes : Cette Journée internationale des travailleurs, placée sous le signe de l’opposition à la réforme des retraites, a renoué avec une mobilisation massive. Mais aussi avec une multiplication des affrontements. Selon un bilan provisoire du ministère de l’intérieur, 291 personnes ont été interpellées en France, et 108 policiers et gendarmes blessés. »

The Guardian View on Macron’s Pension Reform: Legal but Harmful

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: France’s constitutional court has approved the president’s plans to raise the retirement age. That will not stop the protests

A woman passes a burning barricade after a demonstration against Emmanuel Macron’s pension plans in Paris on 14 April 2023. Photograph: Getty
As France’s constitutional council debated the legality of Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reform last week, massed ranks of riot police stood by in central Paris. It was an unsettling sign of the times. Mr Macron’s reckless decision to use executive powers to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 – avoiding a parliamentary vote he thought he might lose – has turned a highly charged national debate into a wider crisis of democratic legitimacy. On Friday, the nine members of the great and the good who make up the council found themselves at the eye of the storm.

Following the court’s verdict that the reform is constitutionally sound, Mr Macron will hope to draw a line and move on. On Friday evening, his embattled prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, optimistically tweeted: “The law has reached the end of its democratic process.” That may technically be true, but the political reality is very different. » | Editorial | Sunday, April 16, 2023

French Pension Age Rise to 64 Cleared by Court - BBC News

Apr 14, 2023 | France's top constitutional body has cleared the raising of the state pension age from 62 to 64. The Constitutional Council has rejected calls for a referendum by political opponents, however it said some articles of the controversial reform have legal flaws. Twelve days of protests have been held against the reforms since January. In March, the government used a special constitutional power to force through the reforms without a vote. President Emmanuel Macron's government argues the changes are essential to prevent the system collapsing.

ABC news (Australia): France’s Top Court Rules on Macron’s Pension Reform Plan | The World

Apr 14, 2023 | France's top constitutional court will decide if President Emmanuel Macron's bid to raise the retirement age is lawful. Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets across the country in recent weeks in a defiant move against the proposed reforms. Former French government advisor and political commentator Natanael Bloch explains.

Protesters Set Fire to Restaurant Favoured by Macron and Clash with Police in Paris

Apr 6, 2023 | Protesters set fire to the awning of La Rotonde, a cafe and brasserie in the Montparnasse neighbourhood frequented by Emmanuel Macron. Demonstrations have continued across Paris as protesters oppose the controversial pension changes bill introduced by the French president

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LIRE AUSSI :

EN DIRECT - Manifestations contre la réforme des retraites : 77 blessés parmi les forces de l'ordre à Paris : La manifestation parisienne, qui arrive à son terme, est marquée par des violences. La brasserie La Rotonde, où Emmanuel Macron avait fêté sa victoire en 2017, a été victime d'un départ de feu et une agence bancaire a été saccagée.»

Weak and Arrogant Macron Will Never Be France's Margaret Thatcher | Anne Elisabeth Moutet interview

Mar 31, 2023 | Emmanuel Macron may promise reforms but he will never be France’s Mrs Thatcher. The comparisons of the President by some to Mrs Thatcher couldn't be more wrong. To discuss President Macron's future, Steven Edginton is joined by the journalist and commentator Anne Elisabeth Moutet in this week's Off Script podcast.

France Pension Protest Live | Public Anger Grows against Macron over Pension Reforms

Mass Protests in France, Strikes across Europe: Consequences of Political Failure? | DW News

Mar 28, 2023 | In France hundreds of thousands of people have been on the streets again in a direct challenge to the plans by president Emmauel Macron to make people work longer for their pensions. Demonstrations took place in cities across the country with the unions claiming more than four hundred and fifty thousand taking part in Paris alone. Authorities put that figure lower, but also put a record thirteen thousand police on duty. It's been two weeks since the president used a controversial constitutional power to bypass parliament and move on with steps to raising the retirment age from 62 to 64.

Unions have again been at the forefront of the protests. They've been angered by the government's outright rejection of calls for mediation in the crisis. Macron has been playing deaf and blind for nearly two months, ignoring week after week all the anger and all the demonstrations. And now, once the law has been passed, he agrees to meet with the unions to discuss the social agenda and so on. What he doesn’t understand, what the government does not understand, is that today the work force refuses to move on until we go back on the terms of this law."

France Protests Show Signs of Slowing Down, Hundreds of Thousands Still on the Streets | DW News

Mar 28, 2023 | In France, hundreds of thousands of people have joined protests and strikes against unpopular pension reforms. Nearly two weeks after President Emmanuel Macron pushed the changes through parliament, public fury shows no sign of abating. Police in Paris and Nantes deployed tear gas, after protesters looted stores and sparked fires. Macron has refused to budge on the deeply unpopular move to increase the retirement age to 64