First published by Adam Sage in The Times.
France’s highest constitutional judges have been placed under police protection amid fears that they could be attacked if they approve President Macron’s contested pension reform today.
Officers were deployed outside the Constitutional Council in the centre of Paris during the 12th round of one-day strikes and marches against Macron’s plan to raise the legal retirement age from 62 to 64.
They are enforcing a temporary ban on protests outside the court as it prepares its landmark ruling on the constitutionality of the reform, which is being implemented without a vote in parliament.
Student unions are calling for demonstrations outside the Louvre, a five-minute walk from the court. A police note leaked to the media said: “There exists a serious risk that determined radical elements of high potential violence form unauthorised marches in this sector.”
Macron is hoping that the court, presided by Laurent Fabius, 76, a former Socialist prime
Protesters, such as Isabelle Fontaine-Mescan, 60, remain sceptical. She said that unions such as the moderate French Democratic Confederation of Labour might abandon the struggle if the court sided with Macron, but “radical groups will carry on with protests that could turn into violent riots. It could be like May 1968”.
She was speaking in the Rue de Rivoli, which runs between the court and the Louvre, as an estimated 42,000 demonstrators marched through Paris. One young woman summed up the mood with a slogan pinned to her jacket: “On strike until I retire.”
Riot police used tear gas to disperse crowds in central Paris during the 12th one-day protest against the pension reforms
Although the number of protesters and strikers was noticeably smaller than in previous weeks, their anger soon erupted. One group pushed their way into the Champs Élysées headquarters of LVMH, the luxury goods group owned by Bernard Arnault, 74, the world’s richest man. Inside they set off red flares and chanted slogans calling for the rich to finance the pension system by paying higher taxes.
Some protesters tried to attack the BHV department store opposite the city hall but were pushed away by riot police using tear gas and stun grenades. Others set fire to dustbins. In the Place de la Bastille, where the 1789 revolution got under way, youths clashed with some of the 4,200 officers on duty.
Fontaine-Mescan blamed Macron for the disorder because he failed to heed the discontent over his reform.
“He has shown arrogance, a condescending attitude and he has ignored the people,” she said. “That is why there is so much anger.”
Macron said his reform would balance a state pension system that would otherwise run annual deficits of between €15 billion and €25 billion by 2032. He also pointed out that the retirement age will remain lower than in most other developed countries.