More than half a million people marched across France to challenge a law raising the retirement age, as anger over President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform spilled into the streets of Paris on May Day. The May Day protest marks a rare event since World War II when labor unions in France have come together. The protest points to the degree of discontent towards a decision borne out of economic necessity but that has been deeply unpopular, and will test Macron’s mettle in his final legacy-building term.
The Paris protests were marred by violence as of 5 p.m. local time, with about 180 people arrested across the country, 68 of them in Paris, according to the latest figures available from the authorities. More than one police person was wounded, with one cop suffering serious injuries after being burned by a thrown Molotov cocktail. In Paris, activists spilled buckets of orange paint in front of the Justice Ministry.
According to the Interior Ministry, 782,000 people protested across France, 112,000 of whom were in Paris. However, the numbers were much higher according to labor union CGT, which tallied a total of 2.3 million people in the country. Unions are meeting Tuesday to decide on the next steps. Symbols of corporate power, such as the Louis Vuitton Foundation on the outskirts of Paris, were defaced. In Montbard, a town in Burgundy, people were banging on saucepans, a tradition that dates back to the overthrow of the French monarchy back in 1789.
The protests stem from Macron’s determination to raise the minimum retirement age to 64 from 62, and there is nothing that the protests can do to overturn something that is now enshrined into law even if it’s cost him a majority in parliament.
Macron has attempted to burnish his international image with some high-profile trips abroad, including China. However, back home, he’s so unpopular of late that Le Point reported that no images of him were retransmitted on big screens at the Stade de France stadium during the Football Cup Final on Saturday.
The protests have captured global attention. In Washington, at a weekend event with President Joe Biden present, a famous comedian noted the protests in his skit and quipped: “Meanwhile in America, we have an 80-year-old man begging us for four more years of work.”
The sticking point is that Macron availed himself of a constitutional provision to pass the pension reform without a full parliament vote. He says raising the pension age is vital to boost employment rates and halt the build-up of deficits in the massive public retirement system as the population ages. Unions say changing the age thresholds to claim a full pension will damage the least well-off and that there are other options to balance the system, including higher taxes on business and the wealthy.
In recent days, Macron has sought to convey a conciliatory tone, acknowledging people haven’t accepted the retirement age hike. He traveled outside Paris to talk about healthcare and education, but in most trips, he’s been met by demonstrations including people banging those revolutionary saucepans. Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper reported on Sunday that some ministers have stopped communicating planned events on their agendas to avoid aggressive crowds.
It remains to be seen if this marks a turning point in what has been a months-long wave of protests. The strikes had waned in recent weeks but could galvanize on the back of brewing resentment against the imperial image of Macron, who at one time compared himself to Jupiter, the king of Roman gods.