“The whole CGT is under attack. More than 250 activists gathered this Wednesday morning in front of the gendarmerie of Montmorency (Val-d’Oise) where Sébastien Menesplier, boss of the CGT of electricians and gas workers, was summoned for actions during the pension reform.
“Today, a milestone has been reached,” said Sophie Binet, general secretary of the CGT. “The government needs to understand that we have to stop with this repression and get Sébastien out quickly. If there are legal proceedings against him, social anger will be expressed and the CGT will be there to organize this anger, ”she told activists, alongside union officials and elected officials.
Endangering others
“Solidarity! chanted the compact crowd of red vests, flags, bucket hats and union caps when Sébastien Menesplier entered the gendarmerie compound shortly after 9 a.m.
The union official, who had become a leading leader of the CGT, was summoned to the gendarmerie for “endangering others by a legal person (immediate risk of death or infirmity) by manifestly deliberate violation of a regulatory obligation to security or caution”, as part of an investigation carried out by the prosecutor’s office in Privas (Ardèche).
It follows, according to the CGT-Energy, a power cut operated on March 8, at the height of the challenge to the reform, which also came into force on Friday. In the town of Annonay (Ardèche), stronghold of the Minister of Labor Olivier Dussopt, the action had deprived several thousand homes of power.
An action assumed and claimed
“I will answer any questions that are put to me. We have carried out a lot of actions against the pension reform and therefore I assume and I claim what may have happened in the country, ”assured Sébastien Menesplier, Tuesday, on France Info.
During the protest movement, “there was such a strong anger among us among the agents, doubly sanctioned by this reform, that it had to be organized, contained and above all diverted towards actions which were debated and decided upon. locally,” he said.
“A highly symbolic and political summons”
In Montmorency, union and political speeches followed one another while waiting for the exit of the union official.
“It is a highly symbolic and political summons”, “it is the whole CGT which is summoned”, accused Myriam Lebkiri, member of the confederal office.
“The CGT scares them, they refuse that we mobilize, let’s mobilize”, she added, recalling the call of the inter-union for a day of mobilization on October 13.