During the pension reform, certain unions complained of police violence. However, there is no consensus between the organizations on the subject. Francois BOUCHON / Le Figaro
At the call of associations, unions and parties, rallies are planned throughout France.
All united… but everyone keeps their own agenda. While the eight trade union organizations announced at the end of August a day of mobilization for wage increases and gender equality on October 13, the CGT continues at the same time to follow its path. This Tuesday, September 12, she is calling with 92 other organizations for a united march “against the police violence systemic racism and for public freedoms“.
Despite the unity displayed in recent days, few members of the inter-union followed it. Only the education union, FSU, and SUD, are announced as participants. On the other hand, almost all student unions will be present. There are also several political parties such as LFI, Europe Écologie les Verts, the NPA…
Concretely, unit marches are announced throughout the territory (currently, 38 are listed on the event website). Jumbled together, the participants ask: “The repeal of the 2017 law on the relaxation of the rules regarding the use of firearms by law enforcement. An in-depth reform of the police, their intervention techniques and their weaponry. The replacement of the IGPN by an organization independent of the police hierarchy and political power. The creation of a service dedicated to discrimination affecting youth within the administrative authority chaired by the Defender of Rights and the strengthening of the means to combat racism, including in the police“. And finally, “an ambitious public investment plan in working-class neighborhoods and throughout the territory to restore public services, funding for associations and social centers.»
A tense climate
This march comes in a tense climate, a few months after the riots which gripped several cities in France. A context that the members recall several times in their press release. This is even more true for the CGT. One of these confederal secretaries, Sébastien Ménesplier, was summoned to the gendarmerie on September 6. This follows the sabotage carried out during the protest against pension reform, by electricians and gas workers in the town of Annonay, where the current Minister of Labor, Olivier Dussopt, was mayor. The summons was judged “highly political», for the union center, which denounced an act of “union repression“.
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