France 's hotly contested pension reform is law . During the night, President Emmanuel Macron promulgated the provision, as reported in the Official Journal. The most contested point is the raising of the retirement age from 62 to 64 years .
Weeks of urban warfare have not helped to change Macron's mind, and new and bloodier protests are feared: «Let's launch an appeal to Macron. Do not promulgate the law, if you do you will no longer be able to control the country », warned Sophie Binnet, new secretary of the CGT, the most powerful trade union .
Yesterday, a few minutes after the announcement of the go-ahead by the Constitutional Council for almost all of the contested pension reform, hundreds gathered, in the rain, at the Hotel de Ville in Paris, on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, in Marseille , in Toulouse, Lyon and dozens of other cities. In less than an hour, the spontaneous demonstrations turned into marches, one directed towards Concorde, others spontaneously towards République and Place de la Bastille.
Violent clashes with the police, smashed shop windows and dumpster fires took place on the rue de Rivoli . An entire rack of electric bicycles is on fire right in front of Mayor Anne Hidalgo's windows.
Macron had invited the demonstrators to a peacemaking meeting, an invitation rejected by Sophie Binet.
"The struggle continues", summarized Jean-Luc Mélenchon, "the strikes will multiply, the demonstrations will continue" . Yesterday's, in short, was just the appetizer.
Total opposition also from Marine Le Pen: «The political fate of the pension reform is not decided, the people always have the last word and it will be up to the people to prepare the alternative that will return to this useless and unjust reform» .
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has tried to throw water on the fire by announcing that " with this reform, the French pension system will be in balance by 2030 ".
(Unioneonline/L)
