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French pension reform protests marred by violent clashes

Protests against pension reform were marred by clashes between radical groups of protesters and French police in Paris on Thursday that saw a famous restaurant set partially ablaze and dozens of police officers injured. There were also clashes in the western cities of Rennes and Nantes.

Published: 6 April 2023 16:30 CEST
Updated: 6 April 2023 20:14 CEST
French pension reform protests marred by violent clashes
French CRS riot police charge during a demonstration at Place d'Italie in Paris on the 11th day of action against pension reform. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP)

Around 570,000 people demonstrated against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms across France Thursday, 57,000 of them in Paris, the interior ministry said, in a count sharply lower than previous weeks’ protests.

The protests in Paris saw violent clashes between more radical elements among demonstrators and French riot police. Police reported that 77 officers had been injured including 13 were needed hospital treatment. Over 30 arrests were made in relation to the disturbances. 

As the march came to an end at Place d’Italie French police fired teargas and charged protesters, some of whom hurled objects and bottles at officers.

A firefighter extinguishes a fire during a demonstration at Place d’Italie, Paris on the 11th day of action after the government pushed a pensions reform through parliament without a vote, using the article 49.3 of the constitution, in Paris on April 6, 2023. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP)

Earlier the famous bistro La Rotonde, mear Montparnasse was partially ablaze on Thursday, with arsonists having apparently set fire to the restaurant’s awning as pension reform protests passed the venue.

The Thursday blaze was quickly extinguished by firefighters.

Police formed a cordon in front of the restaurant, and were pelted with projectiles and paint by some black-clad people from within the protest.

French gendarmes form a cordon around the “La Rotonde” brasserie where a worker uses a fire-extinguisher to put out flames on the restaurant’s awning, during clashes with protesters on the sidelines of a demonstration on the 11th day of action. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

La Rotonde was also severely damaged during the ‘yellow vest’ protests of 2018 – it is the restaurant where President Emmanuel Macron celebrated his election victory in 2017.

Marches and demonstrations took place once again across France on Thursday, as tens of thousands of people took to the streets to show their anger with the government’s pension reform.

The demos were predominantly nonviolent, but as well as Paris clashes took place in Rennes and Nantes in western France.

In the western city of Nantes, some radical protesters threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas, an AFP photographer saw. Over 20 arrests were made.

In Bordeaux people drinking on cafe terraces were forced to flee after police fired teargas towards protesters taking part in an unauthorised march.

But other rallies appeared largely peaceful with several featuring dancing demonstrators or brass bands.

In Paris, striking railway workers occupied the former headquarters of the Credit Lyonnais bank, a famed building that now houses companies including the BlackRock investment firm, setting off smoke flares and whistling in a 20-minute action.

Activists also staged a blockade at Charles de Gaulle airport on Thursday morning, while striking rail workers briefly blocked the train station in Angouleme.

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STRIKES

Strike hits French TV and radio stations

French TV and radio stations have been hit by a 'massive' strike against government plans to merge publicly funded media organisations.

Published: 23 May 2024 14:07 CEST
Strike hits French TV and radio stations

French public broadcasting unions have called for workers to strike on Thursday and Friday in protest against plans to merge parts of the French public media apparatus. 

France’s parliament on Thursday began examining a bill, spearheaded by the minister of culture, Rachida Dati, that would create a large public body called ‘France Médias’.

It would merge the existing public bodies of France Télévisions, Radio France, the Institut National de l’Audovisuel (INA), and possibly also France Médias Monde (RFI and France 24) beginning in 2025-2026. 

From the government’s perspective, the merger would help to protect public broadcasting from competition from private competitors. But unions see the plan as “ineffective, demagogic and dangerous”. 

“At a time when public media is giving its all in a media landscape with private companies controlled by a handful of billionaires, why push it into a merger that is set to be long, complex, anxiety provoking for employees and with no real editorial objective?” representatives wrote in a joint column in Le Monde.

The changes would affect at least 16,000 workers.

Disruption

The union for Radio France, SNJ, said that three out of every four journalists had walked out on Thursday, with widespread attendance across other sectors as well.

Many TV and radio stations do not have their usual programming, and are airing pre-recorded notices explaining that services are disrupted due to the strike.

These include channels such as France 2 and France 3, France 4 and France 5, as well as the Franceinfo news channel and regional radio and TV channels.

As for online media,the homepage of Franceinfo has a banner reading “due to a strike called by the France Télévisions and Radio France unions against the reform of public broadcasting, the operation of the franceinfo.fr website will be disrupted on Thursday. We apologise for the inconvenience.”

READ MORE: Explained: French newspapers, TV and magazines

Morning radio stations on Radio France, such as France Inter, France Culture, France Musique, and more, will be replaced by music, while several television channels, including Franceinfo, will simply re-broadcast old programmes.

Some shows went ahead live, such as Télématin on Thursday morning, but most France 24 programmes will be severely disrupted on Thursday and potentially on Friday too.

The political debate between Prime Minister Gabriel Attal and head of the far-right RN party Jordan Bardella is still expected to go ahead at 8.15pm on Thursday. It will be aired on France 2, with management using external service providers, according to unions.

Previous changes to public broadcasting

This is not the only change that French public media have contended with in recent years. 

In 2022, the French governemnt scrapped the annual TV licence, saving households approximately €138 a year.

However this left French public service broadcasters with reduced funding.

The licence was used to finance the TV and radio channels in the public sector, and it raised approximately €3.7 billion a year – 65 percent of which is allocated to France Télévisions, 15.9 percent to Radio France, 7.5 percent to Arte, 7 percent to France Médias Monde, 2.4 percent to audiovisual archive agency INA and 2.1 percent to TV5 Monde, a Senate report revealed.

More strikes ahead?

Workers were called to join a rally on Thursday outside of the ministry of culture in Paris. Meanwhile, another mobilisation is planned for May 28th, which would be the first day of the vote on the merger bill.

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