With fewer but still determined demonstrators, the unions mobilized for the fifth time on Thursday against the pension reform project, wishing to maintain pressure on deputies who no longer have much hope of being able to debate the legal age. before Friday midnight.
In the middle of the school holidays, with the exception of Ile-de-France and Occitania, the mobilization appeared to be on the decline, the unions projecting themselves towards March 7, where they promised to “put France on the line”. ‘stop “.
The CGT claimed 1.3 million demonstrators, the lowest figure since the start of the mobilization on January 19. The Ministry of the Interior has estimated the number of demonstrators throughout the territory at 440,000 (against 963,000 during the previous mobilization, February 11, which was a Saturday).
Limited transport disruptions
The leaders of the eight main French unions had decided to demonstrate in Albi to “shining the spotlight” on this France of very mobilized medium-sized cities, according to the secretary general of the CFDT, Laurent Berger.
“The discontent, the determination and the combativeness are intact”, he assured before the start of the demonstration, which brought together 10,000 people according to the prefecture and 50,000 according to the unions – as much as the number of inhabitants of this city. . “Elected officials cannot be indifferent when there are so many people in the street,” said his CGT counterpart, Philippe Martinez.
In most cities, the ranks were more sparse than for the 4th day of mobilization on Saturday, as in Toulouse, where the police counted 14,000 people (against 25,000 on Saturday) or Lille, where they were 3,500, against 10,700 on Saturday. The Paris procession brought together 300,000 people according to the CGT, 37,000 according to the prefecture, and 33,000 according to the cabinet Occurrence.
Disruptions remained limited in transport. However, flights were canceled and EDF agents lowered electricity production, without causing power cuts. In education, the rate of strikers was lower than on February 7th.
The left divided in the Assembly
After several days of fruitless tussles, the deputies approach the home stretch of the debates until Friday midnight, the cutoff time for the examination of the text before its transmission to the Senate. The deputies of La France insoumise (LFI) should not withdraw the thousands of amendments which prevent the debates from advancing quickly in the National Assembly. Article 7, which relates to raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, should therefore not be addressed.
“We will not lower our voices,” launched LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon from Montpellier. Only to still maintain thousands of amendments which slow down the debates, LFI clarified its position Thursday by the voice of Jean-Luc Mélenchon: “Incomprehensible withdrawal of the amendments of the PCF. Why rush to Article 7? The rest of the law doesn’t count? Eager to get beaten? “, he scolded on Twitter.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon is “wrong”, replied the socialist Jérôme Guedj, while the macronists reveled: this is proof that it is “the LFIs who are blocking”, according to the Renaissance deputy Sylvain Maillard. The Minister of Public Accounts Gabriel Attal denounced a “rocking” and a “confession” by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who wants to “draw out the debates”.
For its part, the RN tabled a motion of censure on Wednesday, to find out who is “for or against the reform”, according to its leader Marine Le Pen. It should be debated on Friday evening.