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全法超百萬人上街抗議延遲退休改革 多地暴力事件頻發
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20230323-democracy-at-stake-french-protesters-vent-fury-at-macron-over-pension-push
對於繞過國民議會強推延遲退休改革，法國總統馬克龍表示“不後悔”，還稱之為“必要行為”。對此，憤怒的反對者直呼這是“挑釁”，於當地時間3月23日掀起更大規模抗議和罷工浪潮。
據法新社、“法蘭西24”等媒體報道，這場席卷全法的抗議罷工活動聚集了超百萬人，在巴黎、波爾多市等地還發生一係列暴力事件。期間，民眾手舉標語、高呼“民主已危在旦夕”等口號。法國內政部長表示，23日是近期抗議活動中最暴力的一天，當天有457人被捕、441名安全人員受傷。
憤怒之火席卷法國
在法國首都巴黎，數十萬抗議者從巴士底獄出發。許多人舉著“馬克龍版路易十四”的畫像，批評馬克龍強行通過延遲退休改革之舉為“獨裁行為”。
法國巴黎，抗議者高舉“馬克龍版路易十四”畫像。圖自法媒
“我們有過無用的總統，但至少他們知道什麽時候該傾聽，什麽時候該讓步”，一名來自巴黎郊區的72歲退休老者表示，“但是馬克龍，他就像身處在另一個星球上”。
兩名巴黎當地的學生則擔憂法國的民主。他們指出，他們參加遊行“不是為了退休改革，而是因為我們的民主岌岌可危”，“我們的民主已經崩潰……即使議會和國家都反對，政府仍然可以一意孤行”。
“法蘭西24”稱，在遊行隊伍到達市中心後，抗議者和安全人員發生了衝突，一度燃起大火。
23日的抗議活動是自今年1月以來，法國工會聯合組織的第9次示威活動，席卷全國。除巴黎外，暴力事件也在波爾多市、裏昂市等法國城市頻發。在波爾多市，有抗議者在市政廳大樓外放火。
波爾多市政廳的木門燃起大火，圖自《每日電訊報》
據觀察，工會成員們加強了他們的封鎖和破壞行動，短暫封鎖了多地的火車站、公交車站和高速公路，包括通往巴黎戴高樂機場的主要道路。與此同時，法國各地煉油廠的罷工也持續進行，包括戴高樂機場在內的多地加油站已出現供應短缺，部分地區還出現了短暫的針對性停電。
值得一提的是，法國有400多所高中被抗議的學生暫時封鎖，在以往被認為“政治中立溫和”的多所高校也發生了抗議示威和交通堵塞現象。法國教育部在一份聲明中表示，當天約有24%的中小學教師和15%的高中教師參與罷工抗議。
“人們的憤怒比以往任何時候都要強烈”，巴黎副市長伊恩·布羅薩特（Ian Brossat）參加了23日集會，他表示，“現在，法國人對於馬克龍政府‘反民主’行為的憤怒已經超過了對不公正改革的敵意……我們認識到，馬克龍被困在一個與現實隔絕的絕對君主的角色中”。
來自巴黎郊區的女校長艾米麗·達爾（Emilie Dalle）稱，馬克龍的“獨裁”舉動讓她更有動力參加遊行。她說：“議會中的鬥爭可能已經結束，但我們的鬥爭還沒有結束。馬克龍害怕自己會失去選票，害怕民主。而現在我們必須要自己動手了。”
巴黎垃圾堆積成山，圖自法媒
“23日是近期最暴力的一天”
法國內政部長達爾馬寧23日晚到訪警察總部，為安全人員送去慰問。據他所說，23日的抗議活動中，針對公共建築和商區的暴力事件“嚴重惡化”，“比以往的示威活動嚴重得多”。
法新社報道稱，在24日接受媒體采訪時，達爾馬寧指出，在23日一天，全國範圍內有超過一百萬人參加了抗議遊行活動，為此部署了1.2萬名安全人員，其中5000人被部署在巴黎。他直言，這是近期發生的抗議活動中最暴力的一天，僅一天就有457人被捕、441名安全人員受傷。
法國多地現暴力活動，抗議者與警方發生衝突。圖自美聯社
抗議者手持酒瓶、全副武裝，警方發射催淚彈。圖自《每日電訊報》
23日全國性罷工抗議活動，是對法國總統馬克龍此前一天發表的言論的回應。
馬克龍去年將提高退休年齡作為競選連任的基石。根據馬克龍擬推行的改革，法國的退休年齡將從62歲推遲至64歲。法國總理伊麗莎白·博爾內提交至議會的提案顯示，從2027年起，法國民眾必須工作滿43年才有能獲得全額養老金，而法國目前需工作滿42年。
法國退休指導委員會預測顯示，法國養老金係統將於2023年正式進入赤字階段，在今後10年內，預計赤字將達到GDP的0.5%至0.8%。未來25年間，養老金係統將 “平均處於赤字狀態”。法國政府稱，擬推出的養老金改革計劃將有效扭轉赤字風險。
不過，馬克龍政府的中間聯盟在法國國民議會並不擁有絕對多數，且退休改革麵對巨大民意阻力。當地時間3月16日，博爾內宣布動用憲法第49.3條，繞過國民議會投票強行通過改革法案。
此舉迅速引發民眾怒火，抗議浪潮和罷工宣言席卷法國多地。同時，法國議會反對派聯合向政府提出不信任動議，但在法國國民議會未獲通過，馬克龍力推且備受爭議的退休改革法案在事實上得以生效。
22日，馬克龍終於打破沉默，首次就退休改革引發的危機作出回應。馬克龍表示，他對自己的決定“不後悔”，雖然他並不喜歡，但這項改革對法國來說“是必要的”，同時稱抗議中的極端暴力行為不可接受。他指出，他希望退休改革法案於今年年底生效。
馬克龍：不後悔，計劃年底實施。視頻截圖
但馬克龍並未說服憤怒的法國人，反令抗議浪潮愈演愈烈。“法蘭西24”援引近期民調稱，全法超過三分之二的人反對馬克龍的退休改革。同時，盡管罷工活動中斷了交通、令學校、垃圾收集等公共設施停擺，但絕大多數法國人也表示支持罷工。
路透社此前評價稱，近期一係列針對退休改革的罷工，是自四年前“黃馬甲”抗議浪潮以來，馬克龍政府麵臨的最嚴重挑戰。上周日（19日）的一項民意調查顯示，馬克龍的個人支持率僅為28%，是自2018至2019年“黃馬甲”抗議運動以來的最低水平。
據法新社最新消息，因法國爆發大規模罷工抗議，英國國王查爾斯三世取消了原定於本周日（26日）進行的為期三天的法國訪問行程。這原本是查爾斯就任以來的首次國事訪問。
'Democracy at stake': French protesters vent fury at Macron over pension push
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20230323-democracy-at-stake-french-protesters-vent-fury-at-macron-over-pension-push
Issued on:
French protesters downed their tools and marched once again in Paris and other cities on Thursday, galvanised by President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to ram his deeply unpopular pension reform through parliament without a vote, in what critics have branded a “denial of democracy”.
More than two months into a bitter battle that has roiled the nation, opponents of Macron’s plans to raise the retirement age showed no sign of relenting, with the number of protesters on the rise again after dipping in recent weeks.
The rallies marked the ninth day of nationwide strikes and protests, and the first since Macron ordered his prime minister to use special executive powers to bypass parliament, turning an already festering dispute into a political and institutional crisis.
In the French capital, several hundred thousand protesters turned out, setting off from the symbolic protest hub of Bastille. Many held posters with a montage of Macron dressed in full regalia in the manner of “Sun King” Louis XIV, accompanied by the slogan “Méprisant de la République” (contemptuous of the Republic).
“We’re fed up with a president who thinks he’s Louis XIV, who doesn’t listen, who thinks he’s the only one to know what’s good for this country,” said Michel Doneddu, a 72-year-old pensioner from the Paris suburbs. He held up a placard that read, “Jupiter, the people will bring you back down to Earth”, a reference to a nickname commonly used by critics of Macron’s lofty, arrogant manner.
“We’ve had our share of useless presidents, but at least in the past they knew when to listen and when to back down,” Doneddu added. “But Macron, he’s on another planet.”
The march included many first-time protesters, like 32-year-old student Lou, who said she turned out “not so much for the pension reform but because our democracy is at stake”.
Clashes broke out and fires were lit as the rally made its way towards the Opéra Garnier in the heart of Paris, mirroring the violence that has gripped the country since the government used Article 49.3 of the constitution to force Macron's reform through parliament.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said more than 120 police officers were injured on Thursday alone in clashes across France, with unrest sweeping several Breton cities and protesters setting fire to the porch of the city hall in Bordeaux.
‘Our democracy is broken’
The latest round of protests came a day after Macron broke his silence on the bitter pension dispute, saying he was prepared to accept unpopularity because the bill was “necessary” and “in the general interest of the country”.
Striking a defiant tone, Macron said he had “no regrets” except one: he acknowledged that his government had failed to persuade the public of the need for a reform that comes on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic and with French households battered by galloping inflation.
That the government has failed to convince the French is an understatement. Polls have consistently shown that more than two thirds of the country oppose the pension overhaul. A broad majority of the French has also expressed support for strikes that have disrupted schools, public transport and rubbish collection, burying the streets of Paris – the world’s most visited city – under stinking piles of trash.
Macron’s own approval rating has taken a hit, slumping to just 28% according to an Ifop poll last week – its lowest level since the Yellow Vest crisis. The poll was conducted before the president further enraged his critics by ordering his prime minister to trigger Article 49.3.
While Borne’s government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly on Monday, surveys suggest the French were hoping for a different outcome altogether. Two in three voters backed the no-confidence motion, according to an Elabe poll, including – astonishingly – a slim majority (51%) of people who backed Macron in last year’s presidential runoff.
At the Paris rally on Thursday, many said they voted for Macron less than 12 months ago, though stressing that they did so to keep the far right out of power – and not in support of his promised pension overhaul. Rejection of his planned reform, they added, was precisely the reason voters later stripped him of a majority in parliament.
“Our democracy is broken, it forces us into choosing a lesser evil,” said 21-year-old student Maude. “And even when parliament and the country are opposed to it, the government can still go ahead and do what it likes.”
‘Death sentence’
Borne’s minority government is hardly the first to use Article 49.3, which has been triggered 100 times since 1962. Seldom, however, has it been used to ram through a reform of such scope and so vehemently rejected by the public.
At the heart of the pension overhaul is a contentious plan to raise the country’s minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 and stiffen requirements for a full pension, which the government says is required to balance the books amid shifting demographics.
Unions, however, say the proposed measures are profoundly unfair, primarily affecting low-skilled workers who start their careers early and have physically draining jobs, as well as women with discontinuous careers.
The perceived inequity of Macron’s pension reform has touched a raw nerve in a country that has the word “égalité” (equality) enshrined in its motto. Talk of its unfairness has been a key driver of the mass protests that have brought millions to the streets in cities, towns and villages across the country, drawing from well beyond the ranks of the left.
>> ‘Not just about pensions’: French protesters see threat to social justice in Macron’s reform
“Raising the retirement age is a death sentence for us,” said Julien, a 40-year-old rubbish collector, marching in Paris with dozens of striking colleagues.
“I’ve been doing this job for 10 years and that’s more than enough to wear anyone out,” he said. “Some of my colleagues died during Covid. We were celebrated at the time, and now this is how they thank us!”
Like Julien, railway worker Ragnar said Macron’s previous government had already made it more difficult for workers to retire early owing to the particularly exhausting nature of their jobs, by striking down certain criteria of “pénibilité” (arduousness), such as lifting heavy loads or working with chemical substances.
“We need to amplify our strikes and protests, block the country, make sure there isn’t a single drop of fuel left in petrol stations. It’s the only way to stop the government,” said the 23-year-old member of the SUD trade union.
The French president has achieved at least one thing, his colleague Nathalie quipped: “He’s united every single union against him – that’s quite a feat!”
“The fact that every single one of France’s unions is opposed to the reform should be cause for reflection,” added 49-year-old Audrey, a financial controller and member of the white-collar CGC union. “Our union is all about dialogue, but the government is not interested in talking to us.”
‘The battle in parliament may be over – but we’re not done’
Macron’s criticism of unions during his lunchtime television interview on Wednesday drew angry responses, most notably from the head of the moderate CFDT, Laurent Berger, who scolded the French president for seeking to portray the pension dispute as a tussle “between one responsible (man) and a group of irresponsibles”.
Berger’s union – France’s largest – notably supported the last reform of France’s pension system under former president François Hollande in 2014, which increased the number of working years required to qualify for a full pension but did not push back the minimum retirement age. This time, however, it has banded with more radical groups in a rare alliance.
In the build-up to Thursday’s nationwide rallies, union members stepped up their campaign of barrages and disruptions, briefly blocking train stations, bus depots and motorways, including the main road leading to Charles-de-Gaulle airport near Paris, France’s largest hub, where fuel supplies had become “critically low” due to continuing strikes at oil refineries across the country.
Targeted power cuts left the town hall of the 5th arrondissement (district) of Paris – run by a centre-right mayor who backs the reform – without electricity for several hours, while student unions said that more than 400 high schools across the country were temporarily blockaded by protesting students.
In a sign of just how broad the protest movement has become, even the entrance to Panthéon-Assas university in Paris, France’s best-known law faculty and hardly a hotbed of radical politics, had been barricaded.
“The anger is greater than ever,” said Ian Brossat, a deputy mayor of Paris, attending Thursday’s rally wrapped in the tricolour sash typically worn by elected officials during public events. “Hostility towards an unjust reform has now been supplemented by outrage at the use of an anti-democratic tool,” he said, dismissing Macron’s latest pledge of a “change of method”.
“We’ve seen what the method looks like: it means bypassing the National Assembly and governing from the Élysée Palace,” Brossat added. “He is stuck in the role of an absolute monarch cut off from reality.”
A few steps away, retired teacher Sylvie Bredillet was equally dismissive of Macron’s suggestion that the government had failed to explain the motives of his pension reform.
“He says his government failed to get the message across, but we heard it loud and clear: he wants to force two more years of work on the essential workers who deserve their pensions, instead of taxing the wealthy,” she said.
“Macron says he’s holding his ground – well so are we,” added her partner Philippe, holding a banner that read “Gaulois réfractaire” (Gaul who resists change, a phrase Macron controversially used to comment on French resistance to reform) and sporting a moustache to match.
Both vowed to continue protesting until the reform is withdrawn. So did 40-year-old Emilie Dalle, a school headmistress from a suburb of Paris, who said she was even more motivated to march following the president's “authoritarian” move.
“The battle in parliament may be over, but we’re not done,” she said. “Macron cowed away from democracy, fearing he would lose a vote. Now we have to take matters into our own hands.”
