And suddenly, Jean-Luc Mélenchon appears. Journalists are almost as numerous to wait for him, this Thursday, at the end of the morning, as the Insoumis militants, gathered behind a large banner of the Nupes, in front of the hotel of metropolis of Montpellier, in the neoclassical district of Antigone. 7,200 people according to the police, 12,000 according to the unions, are preparing to start the fifth demonstration against the pension reform. Much less than the previous Saturday, the culmination of the mobilization so far, with 20,000 to 35,000 demonstrators in the metropolis of Hérault.
"A certain form of action reaches its limit", immediately recognizes the Rogue in chief. “But now we feel an urge to go all the way, and get it over with. Nupes' strategy of obstruction of the National Assembly? "The obstruction comes from the government" which, "by laying down article 47.1 and abusing its interpretation, has decided to block". Article 7, that on the age of departure at 64, would not be, for him, the alpha and omega of the reform. “I have been told for five or six days: Article 7, quickly, we must vote for Article 7! he gets annoyed. "So all the others would be useless?" If the government was in such a rush to pass section 7, well, they had to make a law with only one section: section 7! Which would have been called Article 1."
The demonstration shakes off. Jean-Luc Mélenchon splits the crowd, framed by two faithful local deputies, Nathalie Oziol and Sébastien Rome, and preceded by a swarm of cameras and cameras. Regularly challenged, "Jean-Luc" stops here to take a selfie, there to blow a kiss or exchange with demonstrators. To a delighted schoolboy, he demonstrates "how to make a fist. You take them one by one and you hide them, that's the symbol, it doesn't mean we're going to throw punches".
More acerbic exchange with a Force Ouvrière policeman, who criticizes him for his statements about the police: "The police do not kill, they protect you. - But you agree with me, there is still a problem in the what use is made of the security forces?- The real problem is delinquency.- But the order only makes sense if it is Republican.- I only know Republican police officers, rest assured ! »
A woman challenges the tribune on the return to the Assembly of his protege, Adrien Quatennens, after his conviction for domestic violence: "Mr. Mélenchon, with all due respect, when a man hits a woman once, he retype it. We cannot support it. You have disappointed me deeply. Mélenchon eludes, resumes his journey and mixes a little further with a group of trade unionists. "You have to turn up the music, you have to step it up a notch, because we're not going to make it, I tell you! a man throws at him. "Your comrade General Secretary, we call each other all the time, he helps me think. On March 7, we must block, we must block everything! urges the Insubordinate.
He will say this Thursday evening "how are we going to do it" during a meeting, his first against the pension reform, in a hall of the Corum in Montpellier. At the same time, François Ruffin, Alexis Corbière, Clémentine Autain, Éric Coquerel, all dismissed from the new direction of La France insoumise, will be the stars of another meeting in Bobigny, organized by Raquel Garrido in Seine-Saint-Denis.
