Macron became a “red flag” in France – Anger reigns in the streets

THE Emmanuel Macron has become a red flag for the French, as thousands have flooded the streets to call for the withdrawal of the law increasing retirement limits at 64 years.

So after his government survived by a “handful of votes”, and while some in his camp have warned him not to carry on with government work as if nothing had happened, amid violent protests and rolling strikes that pose the most serious challenge to his authority centrist president since the Yellow Vest protests four years ago, Macron is seeking to regain the initiative with new reforms in the coming weeks.

“We are all weakened. The president, the government and the majority,” the governing majority MP, Gilles Le Gandre, told Liberation newspaper. “Because the law was passed, we cannot work as if nothing happened,” he said.

Another lawmaker in Macron’s camp, Patrick Vinial, directly urged the president to suspend the pension reform bill, given the outrage it has caused and the law’s deep unpopularity.

However, those who thought that the massive and sometimes violent protests could shake him, persuade him to suspend the implementation of his pension law, are now disappointed.

Bringing together top government ministers and officials from the Macron camp today, the French president confirmed, according to people who attended the meeting at the Elysee Palace, that he has no intention of dissolving the National Assembly or reshuffle his government, or declare referendum to quell popular protest caused by the reform.

Instead, he will try to use a television interview on Wednesday to “calm things down” and plan reforms for the rest of his term, sources close to him said.

In the same vein, speaking in the National Assembly, Prime Minister Elizabeth Bourne and Labor Minister Olivier Disault also made it clear that the government will not change its stance. While Bourne said they would make sure citizens and unions better participate in legislation in the future, she did not elaborate and both said they had spent as much time as possible debating the pension bill.

Rage reigns in the streets

Anger is spilling into the streets across the country over the way the French president moved to pass the controversial bill that would, among other things, raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Last Thursday, Macron invoked Article 49.3 of the French Constitution, bypassing a vote in the National Assembly to approve the law. This resulted in two motions of censure being tabled, which were voted down last night, just nine votes short of the required majority to pass them.

Every night since then, protesters have taken to the streets. If the social protest, framed by the unions for two months, remained peaceful, the signs of radicalization are multiplying in the last days, with demonstrations taking place all over the country.

According to Interior Minister Géral Darmanen, “more than 1,200” demonstrations, undeclared, “sometimes violent”, have taken place across the territory since Thursday, the date Article 49.3 was implemented.

In total, nearly 300 people were arrested in the various protests, including 234 in Paris, a police source said. As lawyers’ unions, judges and left-wing politicians denounce police brutality, Prime Minister Bourne today reminded the National Assembly of the police’s “duty” to “lead by example”.

Anger reigns in the streets and a hatred seems to be refocusing on the face of the young president, a hatred that has never existed for his predecessors since General de Gaulle became the target of attempted attacks by the far right.

Burnt effigy, calls for ‘regicide’, Macron faces hate once again after his pension law, an escalation reminiscent of the ‘Yellow Vests’ social movement of 2018-19, even if the current wave of protests remains limited for now.

“We beheaded Louis the 16th, Macron, we can do it again,” shouted, for example, young people in Paris, Toulouse and Lille.

Another placard read “The King of Garbage”, below a photomontage of the French president sitting on bins full of rubbish, as parts of the capital are awash in 9,300 tonnes of rubbish still left on pavements due to strikes by waste collection workers. of waste, among other strikes in ports and other energy sectors causing great unrest.

“Reclaim Control”

“Since the Yellow Vests, a lot of resentment and hatred has been building up towards him,” notes Anne Muxel, director of research at Sciences-Po.

The Yellow Vest movement, born spontaneously as a protest against fuel tax increases, led to months of road and roundabout blockades and mass rallies every Saturday, often with violent incidents.

This young president from the banking world, who was elected in 2017 and then re-elected in 2022 against far-right candidate Marine Le Pen by taking the votes of moderate right and left parties, quickly embodied arrogance in the eyes of his critics.

“That’s inherent in his personality, he’s a divisive president, you either love him or you hate him. Otherwise he wouldn’t be president,” emphasizes a source in the presidential camp.

By resorting to Article 49.3, the executive gave “the image of an isolated, minority power, which accelerates the parliamentary work” and “starts superficial policies (far) from the reality of French life”, observes Luc Rouban, director of research at the CNRS .

It remains to be seen how, in this climate of “theomnia”, and whether the president will regain control. He is expected to address the citizens tomorrow, Wednesday, at 13:00 local time (14:00 Greek time), giving a live interview to TF1 and France 2 TV, the presidency noted.

He aims to “appease”, “being fully aware of the turbulent situation”, but without “rushing”, summed up a person in his environment.

The future

Opinion polls show that a large majority of French people oppose the pension reform, as well as the government’s decision to push through the bill bypassing the National Assembly.

“I think this was a denial of democracy. The government has passed a law that the majority of French people are against,” said writer Jean Reno.

Protesters played cat and mouse with police in cities across France for a fifth night yesterday, setting fire to bins and setting up barricades as police responded with tear gas.

Paris police chief Laurent Nunez said an investigation would be launched after a video showing a police officer punching a protester went viral.