Was the 12th day of protest against the pension reform on Thursday the final stand for opponents of the government’s flagship project? On the eve of the decision, which could not be more scrutinized, of the Constitutional Council, the Intersyndicale threw its last forces into the battle to try to influence the work of the Elders.
If the CGT has claimed 400,000 demonstrators in Paris, the social movement is showing signs of fatigue, even wear. The police headquarters has also put forward the figure of 42,000 protesters. An estimate ten times lower than that of the union. Similarly, the data from the police or the centrals, in several large cities, were the weakest since the start of the dispute in January. Throughout the territory, the strikers did not show a show of force either. And in particular within the National Education where the ministry only identified about 5% among teachers.
A very clear reflux of the mobilization which went hand in hand with violent actions… and of course symbolic. An intrusion, with very media repercussions, also occurred at the Parisian headquarters of the luxury giant LVMH, near the Champs-Élysées, which was temporarily invaded by demonstrators. A little later in the day, protesters, sometimes hooded and with their faces masked, attacked a branch of the Banque de France, place de la Bastille.
An annex of the institution which had already been burned down by the Russian protest artist Piotr Pavlenski. New tensions also marked the Parisian procession at the level of the Town Hall and around the rue de Rivoli. At the very end of the day, the prefecture notably reported 47 arrests on the sidelines of the demonstration. While some punch actions have targeted places or signs that are supposed to represent the world of the ultra-rich, other outbreaks of fever have given rise to violent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.
In particular in Nantes and Rennes, where respectively 10,000 and 6,500 people expressed their opposition to the government bill. In this capital of Loire-Atlantique, projectiles were thrown as the procession passed in front of the prefecture of the department. Before the peacekeepers responded by firing tear gas a few meters away. Clashes which gave the starting signal to more than two hours of clashes. 110 km further north, Rennes was also the scene of acts of destruction against shop windows or street furniture. Brand cars, which were on the route of the procession, were also set on fire. Two demonstrators aged 42 and 45, slightly injured, were taken care of by the firefighters, according to the Codis de Loire-Atlantique. Two members of the police, aged 48 and 50, also lightly injured, were also transported to the Nantes University Hospital.
Around forty incidents have also been reported in high schools, according to the latest feedback from the academies. 16 complete blockages, 14 filtering blockages, 5 attempted blockages and 5 other forms of disturbance have been reported. The figures are however lower than during the previous day of mobilization when 106 incidents were reported by the academies.
While the Constitutional Council must render its decision on Friday afternoon, a group of demonstrators also gathered in front of the supreme institution. If the police were ready to intervene in the event of overflows, the prefect of police of Paris, him, issued an order to prohibit from Thursday, 6 p.m., any demonstration near the building. With a fear: that a decision more or less favorable to the government will lead to a new outbreak of violence on Friday.
