Are we heading towards a day of massive mobilization this Friday? If the unions cherish this hope, evoking a “Black Friday” particularly in the medical sector, the police did not anticipate more than 150,000 demonstrators throughout the territory. Four months after the last mobilization against the pension reform, which came into force in September, the organizations are planning new strikes and demonstrations for October 13. According to their own slogan, they will mobilize “against austerity, for wages and gender equality.” And this, a few days before the social conference on low wages, promised by Emmanuel Macron, and headed by Élisabeth Borne.
While disruptions are expected in transport, in education, and even in the public service, the first mobilizations were expected this Friday morning. Some 230 actions have been announced in many cities, but the first forecasts do not seem to indicate a major movement. No more than 150,000 demonstrators were expected across the country, including some 15,000 people in the capital, according to police sources. Le Figaro takes stock of the main information:
Scheduled to start at 2 p.m. from Place d’Italie, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, the demonstration got underway.
At the head of the procession were the general secretary of the CGT Sophie Binet but also her CFDT counterpart Marylise Léon. On the banner, we could read: “For the increase in wages, for gender equality, against austerity, mobilized in France and in Europe”. The arrival is planned at Place Vauban, behind the Hôtel des Invalides, in the 7th arrondissement.
“The mobilization will be strong today, probably not at the level of those against the pension reform but that is normal, we have experienced six months of historic mobilization,” admitted CGT number one Sophie Binet. “We cannot beat French records all the time,” she argued on the sidelines of an inter-union press conference.
Despite the weak mobilization of demonstrators, the police were deployed in large numbers on the Boulevard de Port-Royal on which the procession was advancing in the middle of the afternoon. At least 16 gendarmerie trucks are deployed on the ground a few meters in front of the demonstrators, although no sign of tension is visible at the moment.
In Toulouse, Rennes, Nantes, Tours, Lyon, Douai, Perpignan, Le Mans, but also Strasbourg and Marseille, the first processions set off early Friday morning and showed declining mobilization. In Marseille, there were 10,000 according to the CGT, 2,100 according to the prefecture, demanding to be able to “live, work, age with dignity”. For comparison, during the last day of mobilization on pensions on June 6, the unions had brought forward 50,000 participants.
In Toulouse, there were between 2000 (prefecture) and 15,000 (organizers). In Montauban, there were between 600 (organizers) and 350 (police), between 700 and 900 in Tarbes, between 300 and 400 in Auch, between 2500 and 900 in Perpignan. In Nantes, several thousand people also marched behind a banner marked “flammable inflation”, while in Rennes, there were between 3000 (CFDT) and 1770 (prefecture) and in Rouen between 2000 (CGT) and 1300 (prefecture). .
In addition, the movement of environmental activists Dernier Rénovation – which advocates “civil disobedience” – carried out several strike operations this Friday in Tours, Lyon and Toulouse. Place du Capitole, in the heart of the Pink City, several activists lined up in front of the town hall to demand “political leaders to do everything to implement a vast thermal renovation plan for the building”.
In transport, train traffic was slightly disrupted on Friday on certain regional lines, for which the SNCF invited travelers to inquire region by region, but traffic was normal for the TGV. In Île-de-France, disruptions affected certain RER lines, notably D and C with two out of three trains, as with lines H, L, U and R of the Transilien. In Paris, the RATP network (metro, buses and trams) ran normally.
Air traffic was also somewhat disrupted in France and Europe due to the participation of some air traffic controllers in the movement. According to monitoring body Eurocontrol, “significant delays” are expected for flights transiting French skies, while “moderate to significant delays” are expected for arrivals in Bordeaux, Toulouse, Marseille, Nantes and Basel. Mulhouse. For its part, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation (DGAC) noted average departure delays of an hour or more at certain airports including Lyon-Saint-Exupéry, Marseille-Provence or Toulouse-Blagnac.
As of 9:30 a.m. this Friday, the Louvre Museum in Paris explained on its social networks that it was “not able to open its doors at the moment”, “due to a social movement by some of its staff”. Finally, just over an hour and a half later, the Parisian institution returned to its first message and said it was ready to welcome its first visitors from 11 a.m., “after a delayed opening this morning”. “Visitors with a reservation whose visiting slot has passed can access the museum,” the museum said.
The other point to watch is the mobilization of health professionals, who intend to strike hard. Twelve unions of liberal doctors and students also showed their unity this week. And plan a massive mobilization of their troops, with closed offices, deprogramming and “transfer of emergencies” to the public hospital. The health and medico-social sectors (CGT Santé, FO Santé, SUD Santé Sociaux and UNSA Santé
“All consultation activities and technical acts are deprogrammed. All emergencies will be transferred to the public hospital”, and the guards “arrested”, indicated Philippe Cuq, president of the Bloc (surgeons’ union) and spokesperson for the inter-union, specifying that “vital emergencies” would be “supported”. However, no demonstration by medical professionals is planned. Clearly, this movement has two demands: the modification of the Valletoux bill on access to care and the “urgent” reopening of conventional negotiations with Health Insurance. These were broken last year, giving rise to an arbitration settlement, with an increase in the price of consultations of only 1.50 euros.
CFDT, CGT, FO, CFTC, CFE-CGC, Unsa, Solidaires and FSU, and youth organizations, including Unef, Fage and Fidl, are following a call from the European Trade Union Confederation (CES). Demonstrations are thus organized in Italy, Belgium, Germany, Spain, among others, before a new meeting scheduled for December 13. “We need to be able to talk about Europe,” says Marylise Léon. “There will be elections next year, we want a social Europe,” she stressed on Friday.
However, some union leaders hope to reach a few hundred thousand demonstrators to weigh in, at the start of next week, in discussions with the head of government Elisabeth Borne during the social conference organized Monday at Cese (Economic, Social and Environmental Council).