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French unions announce new day of strikes and protests

French unions will hold another day of strikes and protests against pension reform on April 13th, leaders was announced on Thursday evening.

Published: 6 April 2023 19:32 CEST

French unions announce new day of strikes and protests

Protesters march during the 11th day of action against pension reform, in Toulouse, southern France, on April 6, 2023. (Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP)

The eight union federations are planning a further one-day strike action on Thursday, April 13th, union leaders confirmed on Thursday evening.

It will be the 12th official day of joint union action against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform, that awaits to be given the green light by the country’s Constitutional Council.

The April 13 protest will come one day before a ruling from France’s Constitutional Council on the legality of the pension reform.

Famous Paris restaurant targeted amid clashes during pension protests

News of the new upcoming strike date came on the evening of another one-day strike on Thursday, which saw some services disrupted. For the first time on a strike day, the Paris metro system ran with minimal disruption, and high-speed train services were less affected than in previous weeks.

Marches again took place across the country, and there were some clashes between police and protesters. In particular, a well-known Paris restaurant was partially set ablaze, and in the western city of Nantes, some radical protesters threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas, an AFP photographer saw.

Paris’ police prefecture estimated that 57,000 people demonstrated in the capital on Thursday, down from the previous day of action on March 28th when the authorities counted 93,000 demonstrators. Nationally, France’s interior ministry estimated that 570,000 people marched on April 6th.

In contrast, unions said 400,000 people took to the streets in Paris, in contrast to 450,000 during the previous day of action.

Keep up to date with the latest on strike action with our strike calendar HERE

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Fresh violence rocks French overseas territories

The fresh trouble comes at a sensitive time for France where the new prime minister Michel Barnier is struggling to form a government following snap parliamentary elections and has warned of a “very serious” financial situation.

During an overnight security operation in New Caledonia, two men were killed south of the capital Noumea, the public prosecutor said Thursday, taking the death toll to 13 after months of unrest in the French Pacific territory.

Violence broke out in mid-May over Paris’s plan for voting reforms that indigenous Kanak people fear would leave them in a permanent minority, crushing their chances of winning independence.

While unrest in the South Pacific territory has ebbed since mid-July, an AFP journalist witnessed new clashes erupt between French police and civilians in Saint Louis, a heartland of the independence movement just south of Noumea.

On Thursday, public prosecutor Yves Dupas said security forces on an observation mission fired two shots after being “directly threatened by a group of armed individuals”.

The first “hit a man, aged 30, positioned as a lone gunman, in the right side of the abdomen,” Dupas said in a statement.

“The second shot hit a man, aged 29, in the chest.”

‘We are not terrorists’

Police were looking for around a dozen people suspected of involvement in attacks on security forces.

“We’re not terrorists, we’re not in a state of war,” said one mother in the village where the security operation was taking place.

France sent thousands of troops and police to the archipelago, which is home to around 270,000 people and located nearly 17,000 kilometres from Paris.

In violence not seen since the near-civil war of the 1980s, hundreds of people were injured and the damage was estimated at around €2.2 billion.

The electoral change — which requires altering the French constitution — has effectively been in limbo since President Emmanuel Macron dissolved parliament for new elections that in July produced a lower house with no clear majority.

The road to Saint-Louis in the south of the archipelago’s main island Grande Terre is closed. For the 1,200 inhabitants of Saint-Louis, the only way in or out is by foot after presenting an ID at checkpoints.

Only emergency services and ambulances can otherwise cross into the village.

Almost all other roadblocks across New Caledonia have been lifted, but a curfew between 10:00 pm and 5:00 am remains in place.

Authorities are also under pressure in the French Caribbean island of Martinique, home to around 350,000 people.

Officials ordered a curfew in several districts of Fort-de-France, the island’s main city, and next-door Lamentin, after violent cost-of-living protests.

The curfew, ordered on Wednesday evening, runs between 9:00 pm to 5:00 am and will remain in force until at least September 23.

A McDonald’s restaurant was set on fire this week.

The riots follow protests that began in early September over rising prices.

The prefect of Martinique, Jean-Christophe Bouvier, said authorities have made 15 arrests.

Eleven police officers were injured by gunfire, he said, adding that three rioters also sustained injuries.

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