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PROTESTS

IN PICTURES: Thousands march for wages and peace in France

Thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate in France on May 1st, with unions calling for wages, peace in Gaza and a "more protective" Europe.

Published: 1 May 2024 17:30 CEST
This general view of the place de la Bastille square shows demonstrators during the yearly protest marking International Labour Day, also known as Workers Day or May Day, in Paris
This general view of the place de la Bastille square shows demonstrators during the yearly protest marking International Labour Day, also known as Workers Day or May Day, in Paris on May 1, 2024. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)

From Marseille to Lyon, Rennes and Toulouse, processions of people bearing Palestinian flags as well as those of the unions reflected these multiple slogans.

“I am here for the workers, it is important to rally for our rights, but also to denounce the terrible situation in Gaza and Palestine. This must stop,” said Louise, 27, in Paris.

In the run-up to the European elections on June 9, several political leaders were involved, such as Fabien Roussel (PCF) in Lille and Manon Aubry (LFI) in Lyon.

In Saint-Etienne, the head of the Socalists’ list Raphaël Glucksmann was prevented from joining the procession after paint was thrown and a few dozen activists hurled insults.

French workers’ unions’ leaders march behind a banner during Labour Day protests in Paris on May 1, 2024. (Photo by ALAIN JOCARD / AFP)

Marseille was one of the first processions to take place with between 3,000 (according to police estimates), and 8,000 (according to CGT union estimates) people taking part, marching behind a banner that read “Mobilised for peace and social progress”.

In Rennes, the demonstration attracted 1,400 demonstrators, according to the prefecture, while in Nantes, where there were several thousand people, there were violent incidents and damage to property.

Between 6,500 (police) and 13,000 (CGT) people marched in Lyon, with at least 17 people arrested due to damage and tensions with the police.

Protestors clash with French anti-riot police during a May Day rally in Nantes, western France, on May 1, 2024. (Photo by LOIC VENANCE / AFP)

There were also between 4,000 (unions) and 1,850 (police) protesters in Bordeaux and between 3,000 and 8,000 in Toulouse.

In Lille, the procession brought together between 2,100 (police) and 4,000 people (CGT).

In Paris, the demonstration set off shortly after 2.00pm from Place de la République towards Nation, with the CFDT and Unsa unions marching alongside the CGT, FSU and Solidaires.

‘Very worrying’

In Paris, Sylvie Démange, a 59-year-old librarian, pointed out the “very worrying” social context, citing “the rise of the extreme right”, “wage inequalities” or the vertical attitude of the government.

The CGT, FSU and Solidaires, as well as youth organisations including Unef, Fage and MNL (National High School Movement), had launched a joint appeal in particular “against austerity”, for employment and wages or peace again.

A person holds a heart-shaped pillow reading in French “Macron, I hate you with all my heart” during the May Day protest in Paris on May 1, 2024. (Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP)

The CFDT union called for people to “join the processions organised throughout France, to demand a more ambitious and more protective Europe for workers”.

Last year, the eight main French unions (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires, FSU) marched together against pension reform.

Nationally, 120,000 to 150,000 demonstrators were expected, according to a note from the French intelligence services seen by AFP.

This is significantly less than last year when protests united nearly 800,000 demonstrators, according to authorities, and 2.3 million, according to the CGT. In 2022, the police counted around 116,000 demonstrators and the CGT 210,000.

People burn Olympic rings made from cardboard during the May Day protest in Paris on May 1, 2024. (Photo by Alain JOCARD / AFP)

According to the CGT, turnout is “a little bit higher than May 1, 2022”, so “societal anger is definitely present”, said Sophie Binet.

In Paris, between 15,000 and 30,000 people were expected by the authorities, including 400 to 800 radical demonstrators.

By 2.40 pm, police had carried out checks on 917 people and arrested 25.

According to police sources, 12,000 police officers and gendarmes were to be mobilised over the course of the day, including 5,000 in Paris.

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POLITICS

Explained: What’s behind the violence on French island of New Caledonia?

Violent unrest has disrupted daily life on the French Pacific island of New Caledonia - leaving several dead and prompting president Emmanuel Macron to declare a state of emergency. Here's a look at what’s happening, why, and why it matters so much to France.

Published: 15 May 2024 14:45 CEST
Explained: What’s behind the violence on French island of New Caledonia?

Two people have been killed and hundreds more injured, shops were looted and public buildings torched during a second night of rioting in New Caledonia – Nouvelle-Calédonie, in French – as anger over planned constitutional reforms boiled over.

On Wednesday, president Emmanuel Macron declared a state of emergency as the violence continued, with at least one police officer seriously injured.

What began as pro-independence demonstrations have spiralled into three days of the worst violence seen on the French Pacific archipelago since the 1980s. 

Police have arrested more than 130 people since the riots broke out Monday night, with dozens placed in detention to face court hearings, the commission said.

A curfew has been put in place, and armed security forces are patrolling the streets of the capital Noumea.

So, New Caledonia is a French colony?

New Caledonia is, officially, a collectivité d’Outre mer (overseas collective). It’s not one of the five départements d’Outre mer – French Guiana in South America, Martinique and Gaudeloupe in the Caribbean and Réunion and Mayotte in the Indian Ocean – which are officially part of France.

As a collectivité, New Caledonia has special status that was negotiated in 1988 that gives it increasing autonomy over time and more say over its own affairs that the French overseas départements.

Home to about 269,000 people, the archipelago was a penal colony in the 19th century. Today its economy is based mainly on agriculture and vast nickel resources.

What has prompted the riots?

This is about voting rights.

Pro-independence groups believe that constitutional reforms that would give the vote to anyone who has lived on the island for 10 years would dilute the vote held by the indigenous Kanak people – who make up about 41 percent of the population, and the majority of whom favour independence.

New Caledonia’s voter lists have not been updated since 1998 when the Noumea Accord was signed, depriving island residents who arrived from mainland France or elsewhere since of a vote in provincial polls, enlarging the size of the voting population.

Proponents of the reform say that it just updates voting rolls to include long-time residents, opponents believe that it’s an attempt to gerrymander any future votes on independence for the islands.

The Noumea Accord – what’s that?

It was an agreement, signed in 1998, in which France said it would grant increased political power to New Caledonia and its original population, the Kanaks, over a 20-year transition period. 

It was signed on May 5th 1998 by Lionel Jospin, and approved in a referendum in New Caledonia on November 8th, with 72 percent voting in favour.

The landmark deal has led to three referendums. In 2018, 57 percent voted to remain closely linked to France; in October 2020, the vote decreased to 53 percent. In a third referendum in 2021, the people voted against full sovereignty with another narrow margin.

And that’s what the reforms are about?

Yes. The reforms, which have been voted through by MPs in France, but must still be approved by a joint sitting of both houses of the French parliament, would grant the right to vote to anyone who has lived on the island for 10 years or more. 

President Emmanuel Macron has said that lawmakers will vote to definitively adopt the constitutional change by the end of June, unless New Caledonia’s political parties agree on a new text that, “takes into account the progress made and everyone’s aspirations”.

Autonomy has its limits.

How serious is the unrest?

French President Emmanuel Macron urged calm in a letter to the territory’s representatives, calling on them to “unambiguously condemn” the “disgraceful and unacceptable” violence.

New Caledonia pro-independence leader, Daniel Goa, asked people to “go home”, and condemned the looting.

But “the unrest of the last 24 hours reveals the determination of our young people to no longer let France take control of them,” he added.

This isn’t the first time there’s been unrest on the island, is it?

There has been a long history of ethnic tensions on New Caledonia, starting in 1878 when a Kanak insurgency over the rights of Kanaks in the mining industry left 200 Europeans and 600 rebels dead. Some 1,500 Kanaks were sent into exile.

Clashes between Kanaks and Caldoches in the 1980s culminated in a bloody attack and hostage-taking by Kanak separatists in 1988, when six police officers and 19 militants were killed on the island of Ouvea.

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