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全法超百万人上街抗议延迟退休改革 多地暴力事件频发
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20230323-democracy-at-stake-french-protesters-vent-fury-at-macron-over-pension-push
对于绕过国民议会强推延迟退休改革，法国总统马克龙表示“不后悔”，还称之为“必要行为”。对此，愤怒的反对者直呼这是“挑衅”，于当地时间3月23日掀起更大规模抗议和罢工浪潮。
据法新社、“法兰西24”等媒体报道，这场席卷全法的抗议罢工活动聚集了超百万人，在巴黎、波尔多市等地还发生一系列暴力事件。期间，民众手举标语、高呼“民主已危在旦夕”等口号。法国内政部长表示，23日是近期抗议活动中最暴力的一天，当天有457人被捕、441名安全人员受伤。
愤怒之火席卷法国
在法国首都巴黎，数十万抗议者从巴士底狱出发。许多人举着“马克龙版路易十四”的画像，批评马克龙强行通过延迟退休改革之举为“独裁行为”。
法国巴黎，抗议者高举“马克龙版路易十四”画像。图自法媒
“我们有过无用的总统，但至少他们知道什么时候该倾听，什么时候该让步”，一名来自巴黎郊区的72岁退休老者表示，“但是马克龙，他就像身处在另一个星球上”。
两名巴黎当地的学生则担忧法国的民主。他们指出，他们参加游行“不是为了退休改革，而是因为我们的民主岌岌可危”，“我们的民主已经崩溃……即使议会和国家都反对，政府仍然可以一意孤行”。
“法兰西24”称，在游行队伍到达市中心后，抗议者和安全人员发生了冲突，一度燃起大火。
23日的抗议活动是自今年1月以来，法国工会联合组织的第9次示威活动，席卷全国。除巴黎外，暴力事件也在波尔多市、里昂市等法国城市频发。在波尔多市，有抗议者在市政厅大楼外放火。
波尔多市政厅的木门燃起大火，图自《每日电讯报》
据观察，工会成员们加强了他们的封锁和破坏行动，短暂封锁了多地的火车站、公交车站和高速公路，包括通往巴黎戴高乐机场的主要道路。与此同时，法国各地炼油厂的罢工也持续进行，包括戴高乐机场在内的多地加油站已出现供应短缺，部分地区还出现了短暂的针对性停电。
值得一提的是，法国有400多所高中被抗议的学生暂时封锁，在以往被认为“政治中立温和”的多所高校也发生了抗议示威和交通堵塞现象。法国教育部在一份声明中表示，当天约有24%的中小学教师和15%的高中教师参与罢工抗议。
“人们的愤怒比以往任何时候都要强烈”，巴黎副市长伊恩·布罗萨特（Ian Brossat）参加了23日集会，他表示，“现在，法国人对于马克龙政府‘反民主’行为的愤怒已经超过了对不公正改革的敌意……我们认识到，马克龙被困在一个与现实隔绝的绝对君主的角色中”。
来自巴黎郊区的女校长艾米丽·达尔（Emilie Dalle）称，马克龙的“独裁”举动让她更有动力参加游行。她说：“议会中的斗争可能已经结束，但我们的斗争还没有结束。马克龙害怕自己会失去选票，害怕民主。而现在我们必须要自己动手了。”
巴黎垃圾堆积成山，图自法媒
“23日是近期最暴力的一天”
法国内政部长达尔马宁23日晚到访警察总部，为安全人员送去慰问。据他所说，23日的抗议活动中，针对公共建筑和商区的暴力事件“严重恶化”，“比以往的示威活动严重得多”。
法新社报道称，在24日接受媒体采访时，达尔马宁指出，在23日一天，全国范围内有超过一百万人参加了抗议游行活动，为此部署了1.2万名安全人员，其中5000人被部署在巴黎。他直言，这是近期发生的抗议活动中最暴力的一天，仅一天就有457人被捕、441名安全人员受伤。
法国多地现暴力活动，抗议者与警方发生冲突。图自美联社
抗议者手持酒瓶、全副武装，警方发射催泪弹。图自《每日电讯报》
23日全国性罢工抗议活动，是对法国总统马克龙此前一天发表的言论的回应。
马克龙去年将提高退休年龄作为竞选连任的基石。根据马克龙拟推行的改革，法国的退休年龄将从62岁推迟至64岁。法国总理伊丽莎白·博尔内提交至议会的提案显示，从2027年起，法国民众必须工作满43年才有能获得全额养老金，而法国目前需工作满42年。
法国退休指导委员会预测显示，法国养老金系统将于2023年正式进入赤字阶段，在今后10年内，预计赤字将达到GDP的0.5%至0.8%。未来25年间，养老金系统将 “平均处于赤字状态”。法国政府称，拟推出的养老金改革计划将有效扭转赤字风险。
不过，马克龙政府的中间联盟在法国国民议会并不拥有绝对多数，且退休改革面对巨大民意阻力。当地时间3月16日，博尔内宣布动用宪法第49.3条，绕过国民议会投票强行通过改革法案。
此举迅速引发民众怒火，抗议浪潮和罢工宣言席卷法国多地。同时，法国议会反对派联合向政府提出不信任动议，但在法国国民议会未获通过，马克龙力推且备受争议的退休改革法案在事实上得以生效。
22日，马克龙终于打破沉默，首次就退休改革引发的危机作出回应。马克龙表示，他对自己的决定“不后悔”，虽然他并不喜欢，但这项改革对法国来说“是必要的”，同时称抗议中的极端暴力行为不可接受。他指出，他希望退休改革法案于今年年底生效。
马克龙：不后悔，计划年底实施。视频截图
但马克龙并未说服愤怒的法国人，反令抗议浪潮愈演愈烈。“法兰西24”援引近期民调称，全法超过三分之二的人反对马克龙的退休改革。同时，尽管罢工活动中断了交通、令学校、垃圾收集等公共设施停摆，但绝大多数法国人也表示支持罢工。
路透社此前评价称，近期一系列针对退休改革的罢工，是自四年前“黄马甲”抗议浪潮以来，马克龙政府面临的最严重挑战。上周日（19日）的一项民意调查显示，马克龙的个人支持率仅为28%，是自2018至2019年“黄马甲”抗议运动以来的最低水平。
据法新社最新消息，因法国爆发大规模罢工抗议，英国国王查尔斯三世取消了原定于本周日（26日）进行的为期三天的法国访问行程。这原本是查尔斯就任以来的首次国事访问。
'Democracy at stake': French protesters vent fury at Macron over pension push
https://www.france24.com/en/france/20230323-democracy-at-stake-french-protesters-vent-fury-at-macron-over-pension-push
Issued on:
French protesters downed their tools and marched once again in Paris and other cities on Thursday, galvanised by President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to ram his deeply unpopular pension reform through parliament without a vote, in what critics have branded a “denial of democracy”.
More than two months into a bitter battle that has roiled the nation, opponents of Macron’s plans to raise the retirement age showed no sign of relenting, with the number of protesters on the rise again after dipping in recent weeks.
The rallies marked the ninth day of nationwide strikes and protests, and the first since Macron ordered his prime minister to use special executive powers to bypass parliament, turning an already festering dispute into a political and institutional crisis.
In the French capital, several hundred thousand protesters turned out, setting off from the symbolic protest hub of Bastille. Many held posters with a montage of Macron dressed in full regalia in the manner of “Sun King” Louis XIV, accompanied by the slogan “Méprisant de la République” (contemptuous of the Republic).
“We’re fed up with a president who thinks he’s Louis XIV, who doesn’t listen, who thinks he’s the only one to know what’s good for this country,” said Michel Doneddu, a 72-year-old pensioner from the Paris suburbs. He held up a placard that read, “Jupiter, the people will bring you back down to Earth”, a reference to a nickname commonly used by critics of Macron’s lofty, arrogant manner.
“We’ve had our share of useless presidents, but at least in the past they knew when to listen and when to back down,” Doneddu added. “But Macron, he’s on another planet.”
The march included many first-time protesters, like 32-year-old student Lou, who said she turned out “not so much for the pension reform but because our democracy is at stake”.
Clashes broke out and fires were lit as the rally made its way towards the Opéra Garnier in the heart of Paris, mirroring the violence that has gripped the country since the government used Article 49.3 of the constitution to force Macron's reform through parliament.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said more than 120 police officers were injured on Thursday alone in clashes across France, with unrest sweeping several Breton cities and protesters setting fire to the porch of the city hall in Bordeaux.
‘Our democracy is broken’
The latest round of protests came a day after Macron broke his silence on the bitter pension dispute, saying he was prepared to accept unpopularity because the bill was “necessary” and “in the general interest of the country”.
Striking a defiant tone, Macron said he had “no regrets” except one: he acknowledged that his government had failed to persuade the public of the need for a reform that comes on the heels of the Covid-19 pandemic and with French households battered by galloping inflation.
That the government has failed to convince the French is an understatement. Polls have consistently shown that more than two thirds of the country oppose the pension overhaul. A broad majority of the French has also expressed support for strikes that have disrupted schools, public transport and rubbish collection, burying the streets of Paris – the world’s most visited city – under stinking piles of trash.
Macron’s own approval rating has taken a hit, slumping to just 28% according to an Ifop poll last week – its lowest level since the Yellow Vest crisis. The poll was conducted before the president further enraged his critics by ordering his prime minister to trigger Article 49.3.
While Borne’s government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote in the National Assembly on Monday, surveys suggest the French were hoping for a different outcome altogether. Two in three voters backed the no-confidence motion, according to an Elabe poll, including – astonishingly – a slim majority (51%) of people who backed Macron in last year’s presidential runoff.
At the Paris rally on Thursday, many said they voted for Macron less than 12 months ago, though stressing that they did so to keep the far right out of power – and not in support of his promised pension overhaul. Rejection of his planned reform, they added, was precisely the reason voters later stripped him of a majority in parliament.
“Our democracy is broken, it forces us into choosing a lesser evil,” said 21-year-old student Maude. “And even when parliament and the country are opposed to it, the government can still go ahead and do what it likes.”
‘Death sentence’
Borne’s minority government is hardly the first to use Article 49.3, which has been triggered 100 times since 1962. Seldom, however, has it been used to ram through a reform of such scope and so vehemently rejected by the public.
At the heart of the pension overhaul is a contentious plan to raise the country’s minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 and stiffen requirements for a full pension, which the government says is required to balance the books amid shifting demographics.
Unions, however, say the proposed measures are profoundly unfair, primarily affecting low-skilled workers who start their careers early and have physically draining jobs, as well as women with discontinuous careers.
The perceived inequity of Macron’s pension reform has touched a raw nerve in a country that has the word “égalité” (equality) enshrined in its motto. Talk of its unfairness has been a key driver of the mass protests that have brought millions to the streets in cities, towns and villages across the country, drawing from well beyond the ranks of the left.
>> ‘Not just about pensions’: French protesters see threat to social justice in Macron’s reform
“Raising the retirement age is a death sentence for us,” said Julien, a 40-year-old rubbish collector, marching in Paris with dozens of striking colleagues.
“I’ve been doing this job for 10 years and that’s more than enough to wear anyone out,” he said. “Some of my colleagues died during Covid. We were celebrated at the time, and now this is how they thank us!”
Like Julien, railway worker Ragnar said Macron’s previous government had already made it more difficult for workers to retire early owing to the particularly exhausting nature of their jobs, by striking down certain criteria of “pénibilité” (arduousness), such as lifting heavy loads or working with chemical substances.
“We need to amplify our strikes and protests, block the country, make sure there isn’t a single drop of fuel left in petrol stations. It’s the only way to stop the government,” said the 23-year-old member of the SUD trade union.
The French president has achieved at least one thing, his colleague Nathalie quipped: “He’s united every single union against him – that’s quite a feat!”
“The fact that every single one of France’s unions is opposed to the reform should be cause for reflection,” added 49-year-old Audrey, a financial controller and member of the white-collar CGC union. “Our union is all about dialogue, but the government is not interested in talking to us.”
‘The battle in parliament may be over – but we’re not done’
Macron’s criticism of unions during his lunchtime television interview on Wednesday drew angry responses, most notably from the head of the moderate CFDT, Laurent Berger, who scolded the French president for seeking to portray the pension dispute as a tussle “between one responsible (man) and a group of irresponsibles”.
Berger’s union – France’s largest – notably supported the last reform of France’s pension system under former president François Hollande in 2014, which increased the number of working years required to qualify for a full pension but did not push back the minimum retirement age. This time, however, it has banded with more radical groups in a rare alliance.
In the build-up to Thursday’s nationwide rallies, union members stepped up their campaign of barrages and disruptions, briefly blocking train stations, bus depots and motorways, including the main road leading to Charles-de-Gaulle airport near Paris, France’s largest hub, where fuel supplies had become “critically low” due to continuing strikes at oil refineries across the country.
Targeted power cuts left the town hall of the 5th arrondissement (district) of Paris – run by a centre-right mayor who backs the reform – without electricity for several hours, while student unions said that more than 400 high schools across the country were temporarily blockaded by protesting students.
In a sign of just how broad the protest movement has become, even the entrance to Panthéon-Assas university in Paris, France’s best-known law faculty and hardly a hotbed of radical politics, had been barricaded.
“The anger is greater than ever,” said Ian Brossat, a deputy mayor of Paris, attending Thursday’s rally wrapped in the tricolour sash typically worn by elected officials during public events. “Hostility towards an unjust reform has now been supplemented by outrage at the use of an anti-democratic tool,” he said, dismissing Macron’s latest pledge of a “change of method”.
“We’ve seen what the method looks like: it means bypassing the National Assembly and governing from the Élysée Palace,” Brossat added. “He is stuck in the role of an absolute monarch cut off from reality.”
A few steps away, retired teacher Sylvie Bredillet was equally dismissive of Macron’s suggestion that the government had failed to explain the motives of his pension reform.
“He says his government failed to get the message across, but we heard it loud and clear: he wants to force two more years of work on the essential workers who deserve their pensions, instead of taxing the wealthy,” she said.
“Macron says he’s holding his ground – well so are we,” added her partner Philippe, holding a banner that read “Gaulois réfractaire” (Gaul who resists change, a phrase Macron controversially used to comment on French resistance to reform) and sporting a moustache to match.
Both vowed to continue protesting until the reform is withdrawn. So did 40-year-old Emilie Dalle, a school headmistress from a suburb of Paris, who said she was even more motivated to march following the president's “authoritarian” move.
“The battle in parliament may be over, but we’re not done,” she said. “Macron cowed away from democracy, fearing he would lose a vote. Now we have to take matters into our own hands.”
