The Star E-dition

Anti-Macron protests grow

FRENCH unions yesterday staged a new day of disruption against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform after he defiantly vowed to implement the change, with refineries at a standstill and mass transport cancellations.

Interrupted supply from refineries has raised concern over fuel shortages for planes at Paris airports, adding to a growing list of headaches in the crisis that include piles of rubbish in Paris and questions over the looming state visit of King Charles III.

Macron said he was prepared to accept unpopularity because the bill raising the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 was “necessary” and “in the general interest of the country”.

In Paris, hundreds of protesters yesterday morning flooded onto train tracks in the Gare de Lyon, interrupting traffic and causing a delay of at least half an hour, according to national railway operator SNCF.

Protests took place across the country, in the latest day of nationwide stoppages that began in mid-January against the pension changes.

About 12 000 police, including 5 000 in Paris, were to be deployed yesterday, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.

Earlier in the day, protesters blocked road access to Terminal 1 at the capital’s Charles de Gaulle airport, French television footage showed.

Half of all high-speed trains nationwide were cancelled, SNCF said, as a union source said one fourth of staff was striking.

At least half the suburban trains into Paris were not running.

In the suburb of Nanterre, Paul Kantola, a 57-year-old carpenter, said he had to wake at 5am to get to work on time, but he agreed with the protesters.

“It’s scary to grow old in these conditions. Already when you have a pension it’s not enough to live off.”

Paris municipal garbage collectors have pledged to uphold a rolling strike until Monday, as thousands of tonnes of rubbish rot on the streets.

Acting on Macron’s instructions, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne invoked an article in the constitution a week ago to adopt the reform without a parliamentary vote.

The government narrowly survived a no-confidence motion, but the outrage has spawned the biggest domestic crisis of Macron’s second term.

A survey on Sunday showed Macron’s personal approval rating at just 28%, its lowest level since the height of the anti-government “Yellow Vest” protest movement in 2018-2019.

Around a fifth of schoolteachers did not turn up for work yesterday, the education ministry said. Blockades at oil refineries were also to continue, with only one such TotalEnergies site in four working in the country.

The ministry of energy transition yesterday warned that kerosene supply to the capital and its airports was becoming “critical”.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has warned that its fuel stocks at the two main Paris airports are “under pressure”, and urged planes to fill up at foreign stopovers.

Spontaneous protests have broken out daily in recent days, leading to hundreds of arrests and accusations of heavy-handed tactics by police.

Amnesty International has expressed alarm “about the widespread use of excessive force and arbitrary arrests reported in media outlets”.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez yesterday denied this, saying the security forces only detained people who gathered “with a view to commit violence”.

While France’s Constitutional Court still needs to give the final word on the reform, Macron said the changes needed to “come into force by the end of the year”.

WORLD

en-za

2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-24T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://thestar.pressreader.com/article/282600267126714

African News Agency