Protesters angry at French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms continued with scattered actions on Friday, as the unrest across the country led officials to postpone a planned state visit by King Charles.
Although no major protests were planned on Friday, train traffic was slowed, rows of trucks blocked access to Marseille’s commercial port and debris still littered the Paris streets following the previous day’s mass demonstrations.
Over 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 Friday that 441 police and gendarmes were injured as violence marred some marches.
He said that 1,000 trash bins were set on fire in the French capital during the previous day’s action. Amid a weeks-long garbage collectors strike, trash bins have become a symbol of the protest.
Macron’s office announced that a state visit by the King was postponed. He had been scheduled to arrive in France on Sunday on his first state visit as monarch, before heading to Germany on Wednesday. The German part of the trip was still going ahead.
Bordeaux city hall building set afire
Unions have called for new protests and strikes on Tuesday, the day King Charles had been scheduled to visit Bordeaux. The heavy wooden door of the elegant Bordeaux city hall was destroyed by fire Thursday night by people taking part in an unauthorized demonstration.
The mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, said Friday he had “difficulty understanding the interest of such acts of vandalism.”
The supply of fuel to Paris by the large Gonfreville-L’Orcher refinery in Normandy resumed 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 Sunday at Paris’s second airport, Orly, with 20 per cent to be cancelled Monday.
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.”
WATCH | Demonstrations, some violent, continue in several cities:
Protests over pension reform in France have brought commerce, transportation and daily life to halt across the country. President Emmanel Macron is facing arguably the biggest challenge of his political career over the new law raising the age when people can collect public pensions.
Macron says the bill to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 is necessary to keep the financial system afloat, as the country spends more on its pension system than Western peers.
The government, which survived a pair of no-confidence votes this week, also says it has negotiated for months with unions and opposition parties to come to a satisfactory agreement on pension reform, but to no avail.
