The missive sparked big laughs from the unions we interviewed. Tuesday, May 2, the heads of small and medium-sized businesses in the Ile-de-France issued a press release to propose, among other things, that the demonstrations should no longer be organized in the center of Paris but… on the ring road.
Deploring “unacceptable urban violence” on May 1, Bernard Cohen-Hadad, president of CPME Paris, an employers’ organization dedicated to VSEs-SMEs, proposed that the demonstrations could “take place symbolically in the immediate vicinity of Paris, but in sectors less dense in shops and homes: why not on the ring road, which would be closed for the occasion and dedicated to the event, thus offering exceptional visibility with less security risk? »
The very serious proposal was renewed on France Blue And BFM, where Bernard Cohen-Hadad claims to have written on this subject to the Minister of the Interior, to the prefect of police and to the Paris City Hall, asking that the demonstrations take place in areas “without housing, without commerce, without cars”. The president recognizes, however, that it is a bit of “pepper” to be able to “dialogue together”.
“Our vocation is to make ourselves heard”
The idea was welcomed with a loud laugh by Jean-Luc Hacquart, one of the managers of URIF-CGT, the regional union which brings together all CGT activities in Île-de-France. “We could also demonstrate in Seine-et-Marne, there are large fields, we would not risk setting fire to a trash can”, jokes the trade unionist. “I’m waiting for the Medef to offer to organize demonstrations on the tracks of Roissy. Like what the bosses of TEP and PME are also concerned by the pension reform “, he said, before leaving with a great laugh. More seriously, the manager “does not plan to negotiate a course on the ring road”.
Why is this proposal very unlikely to be one day supported by the unions? Because they want to demonstrate “near the places of power and decision-making”, explains Laurent Pagnier, another official of the Urif-CGT. “Republic, Bastille, Nation is the historical course of the Parisian demonstrations, adds the trade unionist. Our vocation is to make ourselves heard. And why not in the desert? »
“I do not agree with this proposal, it is an attack on freedom. We will park demonstrators in places where we will no longer be able to hear them. It is the role of the police to better supervise to avoid overflows, ”also replied Brahim Ben Ali, head of a union of VTC drivers. “We can understand the CPME but we see that they should not know what a demonstration is”, also believes the Departmental Union Force Ouvrière de Paris. Who still finds it very “amusing”.