New demonstrations against the pension reform and the government’s use of article 49.3 took place on March 18, notably in Paris. Clashes broke out with the police in the capital in the evening.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered on March 18 at Place de la Concorde in Paris to challenge, once again, the pension reform and the use of 49.3 by the executive. A gathering that had yet been banned by the authorities.
The demonstrators then went to several points in Paris. Some burned trash cans in an attempt to form barricades, according to footage from freelance journalist Clément Lanot.
🔴 Demonstration in Paris against 49.3 and pension reform.
Garbage cans are set on fire to form barricades. pic.twitter.com/7yqgyxJiux
— Clément Lanot (@ClementLanot) March 18, 2023
The BFM TV channel also noted dozens of burning trash cans.
In the evening, the reporter Clément Lanot noted “jets of Molotov, as well as “projectiles” addressed to the police who replied with charges and tear gas.
The same Clement Lanot wrote on Twitter, around 8:30 p.m., having been “targeted by a truncheon from the BRAV-M”. “While putting away the broken equipment following this blow, a CRS intimidated me on the ground by miming a kick. He stops seeing that I am a journalist. As always, I am identifiable: armband + visible press card”, he described.
HQ the free media also filmed charges from the police, and observed the deployment of the BRAV-M.
Through their interventions, the security forces tried to remove the barricades deployed by the demonstrators.
According to HQ the free media, there were in Paris during the day of March 18 “very many police checks on the Place de la Concorde (with) people (…) arrested, others verbalized”.
Clashes in the Place d’Italie in the evening
Around 10 p.m., France Info, citing a police source, reported that 76 people had been arrested on the sidelines of the mobilization against the pension reform in Place d’Italie, in Paris. Earlier, according to the same media, 10 people had been arrested near the Place de la Concorde.
Clashes erupted in the evening in Place d’Italie between demonstrators and the police, with the deployment of barricades and burning objects.
