The Paris Police have arrested more than 200 people for the riots that took place on Thursday night in the French capital, in protest at the approval by an article of the Constitution by the Government of Emmanuel Macron of the pension reform, which increases the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
Specifically, 217 people have been arrested after setting fire to and damaging public furniture and after confronting the security forces, as detailed in a report by the Paris Police headquarters and has been picked up by the BFTM chain.
Thousands of people have gathered in the Place de la Concorde in Paris, a few steps from the French Parliament, to denounce the “forced passage” of the Executive when making use of the article 49.3 of the Constitution for the pension reform, which had not obtained the support of the National Assembly for it to go ahead.
The Police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the protesters, moving them away from the French National Assembly, according to the aforementioned newspaper. After several hours of riots, the tensions in the streets have come to an end.
Meanwhile, the main unions in France have announced a big day of demonstrations for the next Thursday March 23 to request the total withdrawal of the reform, while the opposition will present a motion of no confidence to the Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, this Friday.
The protests take place on a day in which the French Government has decided to use article 49.3 of the Constitution, which avoids submitting the pension reform to a vote in the French National Assembly, after verifying that it lacks a sufficient majority to carry out one of the star projects of the president, Emmanuel Macron.
The French prime minister has defended the application of article 49.3 of the Constitution and has assured, during an interview on the TF1 Info channel granted this Thursday, that they have worked “until the last minute” to obtain a majority on the pension reform.
The French prime minister has acknowledged that she understands “the great effort” that the French will have to make to work “for two more years”, although she has expressed that “letting people believe that we can pay everything with debt is not serious”.
Borne also commented on the boos, shouts of resignation and chants from the opposition experienced during the day in a tense session in the National Assembly. “That reflects that a certain number of opposition groups do not respect our institutions.some want chaos”, has sentenced.
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