French unions have called for an “exclusive and popular” nationwide protest against pension reform on May 1, the leading union, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), said in a communiqué.
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“Trade unions call on all workers, young people and pensioners to organize on May 1, 2023 a day of exceptional and popular protest against pension reform and for social justice. Such an interprofessional demonstration on issues of work and pensions is historical for our country,” the communiqué posted on Twitter by the “General Confederation of Labor” said.
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On Friday, France’s Constitutional Council approved a key article in a pension reform bill that calls for a gradual increase in France’s retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030. The Elysee Palace said that Emmanuel Macron will sign the law in the coming days.
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The twelfth nationwide protest against the increase in the retirement age took place across France on Thursday. According to the French Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of protesters that day amounted to 380,000 people.
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At a demonstration in Paris, as RIA Novosti correspondent reported, there were violent clashes between demonstrators and the police. Radicals from the black bloc movement used all sorts of homemade explosives and Molotov cocktails, firecrackers and paint cans. They threw large stones and glass bottles at the police. The police actively used tear gas and stun grenades to push back the demonstrators.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Born used article 49.3 of the constitution on March 16 to pass a bill to raise the country’s retirement age from 62 to 64 without a vote in parliament, sparking protests in the country.
