PARIS: Train services were disrupted and some schools shut while garbage piled up on the streets of France on Thursday as part of a ninth nationwide day of strikes against a deeply unpopular bill to raise the pension age.
Protesters blocked a highway near Toulouse in southwestern France in the early morning and a bus depot in the west, in Rennes, Le Parisien newspaper said. Protest rallies were scheduled across the country later in the day.
President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said the legislation — which his government pushed through parliament without a vote last week — would come into force by year-end despite escalating anger across the country.
“The best response we can give the president is that there are millions of people on strike and in the streets,” said Philippe Martinez, who leads the hardline CGT union.
Protests against the policy changes, which lift the retirement age by two years to 64 and accelerate an increase in the number of years one must work to draw a full pension, have drawn huge crowds in rallies organized by unions since January.
Most protests have been peaceful, but anger has mounted since the government pushed the bill through parliament without a vote last week.
The past seven nights have seen spontaneous demonstrations in Paris and other cities with rubbish bins set ablaze and scuffles with police.
Labor unions said Thursday’s day of strikes and protests would draw huge crowds against what they described as Macron’s “scorn” and “lies.”
Laurent Berger, the head of France’s biggest union, the moderate CFDT, told BFM TV the government must withdraw the pension law.
The latest wave of protests represents the most serious challenge to the president’s authority since the “Yellow Vest” revolt four years ago. Polls show a wide majority of French opposed to the pension legislation as well as the government’s decision to push it through parliament without a vote.
Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt said the government was not in denial about the tensions but wanted to move on.
“There is a disagreement that will persist on the retirement age. On the other hand, there are many subjects which make it possible to renew a dialogue,” he said, including how companies share their profits with workers.
“Things will be done gradually,” he said.
Electricity power supply was reduced on Thursday as part of rolling strikes in the sector.
The government has renewed a requisition order requiring some employees to return to work at the Fos-sur-Mer fuel depot in southern France to secure petrol supplies for the region.
Nationwide protests in France after Emmanuel Macron doubles down on pension bill
https://arab.news/zjmtb
Nationwide protests in France after Emmanuel Macron doubles down on pension bill
- ‘The best response we can give the president is that there are millions of people on strike and in the streets’
- Protests against the policy changes have drawn huge crowds in rallies organized by unions since January
Venezuela’s furious street forces ready to ‘fight’ after US raid
- As proud defenders of the Venezuelan leadership’s socialist “Bolivarian revolution,” the ousting of Maduro has left them furious and bewildered, convinced that he was betrayed by close allies
CARACAS: When explosions boomed in the night and US warplanes roared in the sky over Caracas, Jorge Suarez and his companions rushed fearfully for their guns.
For these members of the “colectivos” — armed loyalists of the leftist leadership — the US raid that ousted Nicolas Maduro as their president was the most dramatic challenge yet.
“We’re not used to it — it was like a best-seller, like something out of a movie,” said Suarez, in black sunglasses and a cap bearing the slogan: “Doubt is treason.”
“We took to the streets, waiting for instructions from our leaders.”
As proud defenders of the Venezuelan leadership’s socialist “Bolivarian revolution,” the ousting of Maduro has left them furious and bewildered, convinced that he was betrayed by close allies.
“There is frustration, anger and a will to fight,” said a 43-year-old member of one collective the Boina Roja — which translates to Red Beret — who identified himself only as Willians, in a black cap and hooded jacket.
“It’s still not really clear what happened...What is clear is that there were many betrayals,” he added — pointing to implausible failures in Maduro’s defenses.
“We don’t understand how the anti-aircraft system failed. We don’t know what happened with the rocket-launch system.”
- Policing the transition -
Established in their current form under Maduro’s predecessor Hugo Chavez, the colectivos are tasked with keeping social order on the streets — but accused by opponents of beating and intimidating rivals.
They have closed ranks behind Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s former deputy who took over as interim president.
She has pledged to cooperate with US President Donald Trump over his demand for access to Venezuela’s huge oil reserves — but has insisted the country is not “subordinate” to Washington.
Willians said the colectivos were resisting certain post-Maduro narratives, which he dismissed as mind games — such as “that Trump might bomb again, or that Delcy Rodriguez is with the United States.”
They respect her ideological pedigree — Rodriguez is the daughter of a far-left militant who died in the custody of the intelligence services in 1976.
“I don’t think anyone would betray her father,” said Alfredo Canchica, leader of another collective, the Fundacion 3 Raíces.
“You can betray the people, but not your father.”
Colectivo members declined to be drawn out on how the post-Maduro phase might play out under Trump and Rodriguez, however.
“We don’t believe the threats that the Americans are going to come, dig in and take us out,” said Canchica.
“They’ll have to kill us first.”
- Maduro ‘betrayed’ -
Feared by opponents as a rifle-wielding, motorbike-mounted shock force, the colectivos are welcomed in some neighborhoods where they are credited with preventing crime — and where authorities hand out subsidized food parcels.
Speaking at the Chato Candela baseball stadium in the working-class 23 de Enero district, Canchica rejected the negative image they have gained.
When opposition demonstrators and some world powers were accusing Maduro of stealing an election in July 2014, “we stopped the shantytowns from rising up,” he said.
The colectivos also claim to run sports programs, coordinate with hospitals and transport networks, and visit traders to keep price speculation in check.
Fiercely committed to the “Chavista” cause, they felt the sting of betrayal in Maduro’s capture.
“The betrayal must have come from someone very close to our commander” Maduro, said Canchica.
“It was so perfect we didn’t notice, and we still don’t know who betrayed us, how they betrayed us — it happened so fast.”
In his office with images of independence hero Simon Bolivar, Chavez and Maduro on the wall, and books, bullets and a sound-wave bomb on the table, Suarez bitterly recalled watching animated reconstructions of Maduro’s capture published online.
“It makes you angry,” he said.
“Despite all the support Commander (Vladimir) Putin, China and North Korea have given us militarily, how can we react in real time when (the US) has more advanced technology than we do?“
