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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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COST OF LIVING

What is considered a good salary in Paris?

The higher-paying jobs are heavily concentrated in the French capital, but set against that is the high cost of living - especially the cost of renting or buying a home. So what is considered a 'high-earner' in Paris?

Published: 25 June 2024 16:51 CEST
What is considered a good salary in Paris?

Centrist Renaissance candidate Sylvain Maillard, running for re-election in France’s snap parliamentary elections, was trying to highlight the high cost of living in the capital in a debate on RMC Radio 

“You have extremely expensive rents [in Paris], between €1,500 and €1,700, and then there are all the charges and taxes to pay,” he said.

But what most people seized on was his comment that anyone earning €4,000 a month after tax would not be considered rich in Paris – he predictably was accused of being out of touch with French people’s lives.

There’s no doubt that €4,000 a month is good salary that most people would be happy with – but how much do you need to earn to be considered ‘rich’ in Paris?

National averages

Earlier this year, the independent Observatoire des Inégalités calculated poverty and wealth levels in France.

READ ALSO How much money do you need to be considered rich in France?

According to its calculations, to be considered ‘rich’ in France, a single person with no dependants needs to earn more than €3,860 per month, after taxes and social charges. Around eight percent of single workers have this sum deposited into their bank balance every month, it said.

A total of 23 percent of workers take home €3,000 or more every month, while the top 10 percent clear €4,170. 

To be in the top one percent of earners in France in 2024, one person must bring in at least €10,000 per month. After taxes and social charges.

The median income – the median is the ‘middle value’ of a range of totals – of tax households in mainland France is €1,923 per month after taxes and social charges, according to INSEE 2021 data, which means that a ‘rich’ person earns about twice as much as a person on the median income, according to the Observatoire.

Paris situation

About 75 percent of people living in Paris earn less than €4,458 per month, according to Insee data – so according to those calculations, 25 percent of Parisians earn the equivalent of the top 10 percent in France. 

But that city-wide average still hides a wide degree of variation. In the sixth arrondissement, the median income is €4,358 per month, after tax. In the seventh, it’s €4,255.  Further out, those bringing home €4,600 a month in the 19th and 20th arrondissements are among the top 10 percent in wealth terms.

But still, the median income in Paris is €2,639, significantly higher than the €1,923 France-wide median.

That would mean – using the Observatoire des Inégalités’ starting point for wealth – that a Paris resident, living on their own, would have to bring home €5,278 per month to be considered ‘rich’. 

France is a heavily centralised country, with many of the highest-paying industries concentrated within the capital, meaning there is much more opportunity to secure a high-wage job if you live in Paris.

Cost of living

Even these figures should all be taken with a pinch of salt because of the relatively high cost of living in the capital, compared to elsewhere in France. Paris is objectively an expensive place to call home.

In 2023, France Stratégie published a report on the disposable income of French households, after housing, food and transport costs were deducted. It found that, on average, people living in the Paris region had more left to spend, due to higher incomes and despite the fact that housing costs more.

It’s the income paradox in action. A person with a take-home salary of €4,000 per month has more money to spend if they live and work outside Paris. But they’re much more likely to earn that much if they live and work in Paris, where it’s not as valuable. 

Someone who earns a ‘rich-level’ salary in Paris might not appear rich – because they live in an expensive area, and a surrounded by very wealthy people in property that’s out of reach all-but the fattest of wallets. But they’re still earning more than twice the median income in France.

And that’s what Sylvain Maillard was getting at, clumsily as he may have expressed it.

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