Today, Thursday, local media announced that 22 police officers were injured in Paris and Lyon during clashes between demonstrators and the police.
According to the news agency, the number of protesters against the retirement law is more than one million across the country, noting that 400,000 demonstrators took to the streets in Paris alone, according to estimates by French unions.
The report indicated that 22 French policemen were injured in Paris and Lyon, after clashes broke out between the police and protesters over raising the retirement age.
The French called for a strike and demonstration today against pension reform, in the latest mobilization on the eve of a decisive decision of the Constitutional Council regarding this project, which has become a symbol of Emmanuel Macron’s second presidential term.
The unions decided to organize this show of force, the twelfth in three months, before Friday’s decision of the members of the Constitutional Council who will announce whether they will endorse or reject, in part or in whole, the reform, which is an important change and provides for raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years, According to what was reported by “Agence France Presse”.
Macron: The decision closes a path and clarifies the questions raised
And from the Netherlands, Macron confirmed that this decision could “close” a path and “clarify all the questions raised” before announcing that he would propose “in a consensual spirit” a meeting with the social partners.
For its part, the Interior Ministry expected earlier that between 400,000 and 600,000 people would take to the streets in France, compared to 570,000 on the sixth of April, and 740,000 on the 28th of March.
After the government forcibly passed the law on March 20, based on a constitutional provision that allows the draft to be adopted without a vote, the Constitutional Council’s decision on Friday will be the last step before the text is issued and enters into force. Macron wants to start implementing it by the end of this year.
It seems unlikely that the council, which is tasked with checking the constitutionality of laws, will reject the reform entirely.
The Council is also supposed to consider the possibility of accepting a referendum requested by a joint initiative of the left opposition, a measure that should collect 4.87 million signatures to allow the organization of a consultation on the text.
Ratification may give opponents of reform a much-needed chance to counter the waning enthusiasm.