A concert of noises and reproaches. While the Elysée hopes to turn the page on the political and social crisis opened by the forceps adoption of the pension reform, the televised speech delivered Monday April 17 by Emmanuel Macron was greeted by noisy demonstrations in several cities of France and the strong criticisms of the unions as opposition forces.
In a joint press release issued Monday evening, the inter-union considered that the words of the President of the Republic "demonstrate that he still has not understood the anger that is expressed in the country" and again called for "May 1st a day of massive, unitary and popular mobilization" against the pension reform.
“That speech could have been made by ChatGPT. There was a very disembodied side,” CGT leader Sophie Binet quipped on LCI. “The CFDT, one day or another, will discuss working conditions, wages. But we want a minimum of decency in this relationship. We don't answer when we are whistled, ”said CFDT general secretary Laurent Berger.
The reactions of the main figures of the opposition formations are hardly more enthusiastic. "I welcome with skepticism this long catalog of pious wishes which brings neither direction nor novelty, in spite of objectives which are as laudable as they are obvious", declared the president of the Les Républicains party Eric Ciotti, while Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement national) has curbed a "disconnected, solitary and obtuse practice of power". “Unreal Macron. Completely out of reality, assumes the theft of two years of freedom. The pans sound more accurate, ”tweeted the leader of La France insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
300 "casserolades" identified in France
In addition to criticism from the oppositions and unions, Emmanuel Macron's televised address was indeed greeted Monday evening by concerts of pans of demonstrators heard in several cities in France.
In Paris, several rallies were scheduled and shortly before 8 p.m. demonstrators began making noise by banging on pots or pans with spoons or other utensils. Several hundred people were gathered in particular in front of the town hall of the 10th arrondissement, noted a journalist from Agence France-Presse, a procession which then set in motion in the capital. The demonstrators displayed numerous flags of the LFI, NPA, PCF, EELV parties or even of the Attac organization or the CGT, and chanted "Macron resign", or "Paris rise up".
In Rennes, around a thousand people gathered in front of the Hôtel de Ville, where a large police force was in place, to give a deafening concert of saucepans and metallic noises of all kinds, noted an AFP journalist, and the end of the presidential address did not put an end to the din.
The anti-globalization NGO Attac, which had called for such "casserolades" in front of town halls, has identified "more than 300 gatherings" in France.
