Pan concerts, a vandalized town hall in Lyon, a burnt down police station storefront... Several thousand people demonstrated across France overnight from Monday to Tuesday in their opposition to the pension reform on the sidelines of the Emmanuel Macron's television address.
In Lyon, according to the prefecture, several incidents occurred shortly after 9:00 p.m. after a rally in front of the Town Hall, from where several hundred demonstrators left to walk the streets of the Croix-Rousse district.
"During a wild demonstration", a group of individuals forced a door of the town hall of the 1st arrondissement before entering the building and tagging the walls of the entrance, relates the press release from the prefecture . Others set fire to the front of the borough's municipal police station and at the same time, a fire broke out in the basement of an adjoining building. On the course of this wild demonstration, projectiles were thrown and fireworks fired at the police who then responded with tear gas. Two police officers were injured during the evening.
The regional prefect reacted by strongly condemning "these attacks on public property" and assured the police of her support.
In Caen, 900 people took part in an "undeclared demonstration", according to the prefecture which reported numerous degradations. Seven people were arrested, adds the same source.
Several rallies were also held in Paris, where demonstrators had begun shortly before 8 p.m., when Emmanuel Macron was about to address the nation, making noise by banging on pots and pans using spoons or other utensils. Hundreds of people gathered in particular in front of the town hall of the 10th arrondissement, noted an AFP journalist.
The demonstrators displayed numerous flags of the LFI, NPA, PCF, EELV parties or even the Attac organization or the CGT, and chanted "Macron resignation", or "Paris rise up".
This rally then gave way to three wild demonstrations in Paris, with a total of some 2,000 demonstrators, said the prefecture, which had identified 16 trash fires at the end of the evening, all of them extinguished.
Several other "casserolades" were planned in Paris, -- where concerts using these utensils were also held at the windows --, and throughout France.
"It's pretty friendly," commented Jeanne, 28, a farmer, who was demonstrating in Rennes by tapping her water bottle with her key. "I did demonstrations but it's my first with a water bottle! I didn't want to listen to it at all, I find it condescending", she continued about the President of the Republic . "I will listen tomorrow to what he said, on France Inter. It is the first time that I have done such a demonstration, it is quite telling I find".
Several hundred demonstrators gathered in the Old Port of Marseille before heading to the town hall, some chanting "Macron resignation". Residents supported protesters by banging pots from their balconies.
In Saint-Etienne, small groups continued to wander through the city center after a demonstration of around 300 people, according to the prefecture, which reported tags, burnt bins and broken windows, including a bank branch. . Garbage fires also enamelled the wanderings of demonstrators in Rennes, Caen, Nantes and Angers, where undeclared demonstrations took place after the speech.
In Strasbourg, after the concert of pans which lasted about an hour in the city center, a few hundred people improvised barricades in the middle of the streets using garbage containers or construction objects to block the road. to the police, AFP noted, and the police repeatedly used tear gas.
The anti-globalization NGO Attac, which had called for "casserolades" in front of town halls, had identified "more than 300 gatherings" in France.
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04/18/2023 04:59:29 - Paris (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
