On Wednesday they received the support of some 300 cultural professionals, including actresses Juliette Binoche and Camille Cottin, who in a forum published in the newspaper Libération called for the withdrawal of an “unfair” reform.
But this Thursday’s demonstration is the first since Macron imposed his plan by decree and it is announced to be crucial to find out if they will be able to keep the mobilization against a reform alive, which awaits the final approval of the Constitutional Council.
The police forecast “between 600,000 and 800,000 people in some 320 actions.”
“How to teach democracy?”
As a symbol of the prevailing atmosphere, the song “Motivés” by the group Zebda resounds at the demonstration in Paris, whose stanza reads: “Motivated, motivated, we must remain motivated”. The banners against the reform of the first marches gave way to criticism of Macron.
Cédric Nothias, a 46-year-old high school teacher, carries a banner with the question: “How to teach democracy when Macron tramples on it?” “I must teach that France is a democratic republic”, something “difficult” because “in practice it is not respected”, he laments.
The saga of the pension reform entered a phase of wear and tear, with an inflexible government eager to put the social conflict behind it and an opposition—political, trade union, and popular—willing to hold its own and even toughen it up.
The strikes caused strong disturbances this Thursday in public transport in Paris and the cancellation of half of high-speed trains, the closure of schools, the blockade of high schools and universities, and the closure of monuments such as the Eiffel Tower.
Given the blockades for days in warehouses and refineries, the government ordered some strikers to return to work to alleviate the lack of fuel at 15% of gas stations and the “critical” situation of the kerosene supply at Paris airports.
Paris continues with thousands of tons of garbage accumulated in the streets, days before the arrival of King Carlos III who kept his trip to France, the occasional roadblocks and the blockade of ports spread, among other actions.
After the mobilization on Thursday, the government hopes that the mobilization will “decay” and everything will return to normal “on the weekend.” But the unions have already warned that the protests will continue in the coming days.