“The 49.3 makes us even more angry”: Place de la Concorde, they predict a resurgence of protest

RETIREMENTS – “It makes us even more angry.” After the triggering of article 49.3 by Élisabeth Borne at the National Assembly on Thursday March 16, which allows the pension reform to be passed without a vote by the deputies, thousands of people gathered at Place de la Concorde in Paris, as you can see in the video at the top of this article.

Since mid-afternoon, demonstrators had gathered at the call of the union Solidarity on this square, at the bottom of the Champs-Élysées and near the Invalides. They were joined shortly after 4:30 p.m. by demonstrators massed near the National Assembly and by a procession of more than 1,600 young people who had left the Place de la Sorbonne, to cries of “Emmanuel Macron, president of the bosses, we are coming to pick you up at home” et “Down with 49.3”.

Representatives of several youth organizations, student unions (Alternative), and political organizations (Rebellious Youth, Young Ecologists, NPA Youth), at the initiative of this demonstration, were present. They were joined by unions and workers: railway workers, refiners in particular.

“Even if 49.3 passes, we will continue”

In the procession, politicians and demonstrators mixed together to oppose 49.3. Among them, Sébastien Peytavie, ecologist deputy and Nupes, who considers the use of this article as an admission of failure of the government: “There were still three crisis meetings this morning at the Élysée. For the great reform of the quinquennium, they are not able to put that to the vote. They have no legitimacy. he says to HuffPost. Danièle Obono, deputy La France insoumise, also Nupes, also denounces “a democratic denial, a parliamentary denial but above all a denial of the people”.

Likewise among the demonstrators, this 49.3 does not pass at all: “It makes us even more angry”says Florence, a teacher. “So let’s hope this is a new impetus for the social movement. Maybe this time, we will really block everything so that finally the power understands”. For Florent, a railway worker, the protest movement is not over: “Even if 49.3 passes, we will continue! As long as there is no implementing decree, we have won. »

At the end of the evening, the security forces intervened to evacuate the Place de la Concorde, where many clashes had broken out during the evening, with in particular an attempt to damage the Obelisk site, in the center of the place. Several charges and tear gas jets first drove the demonstrators away from the bridge leading to the National Assembly, then gradually evacuated them from the square to the surrounding streets and neighborhoods. At 11:30 p.m., 217 people had been arrested, according to the police headquarters.

See also on Le HuffPost