In a social unrest trifler, than one million protesters walked out in the streets in the entire country on Thursday as eight major trade unions against the upmeasured demonstrations, as the proposed EUR44 billion austerity budget by Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, puts a axe to the head of the mass of social services, abolishes the public holidays, and restructures unemployment benefits, and with violent confrontations in Paris, Lyon and Rennes, demonstrators pushed police and police pushed demonstrators.
How universal strikes brought France to utter stagnation
A high attendance of protesters in the French capital, Paris, on Thursday afternoon became ugly as a few dozen people dressed in black attacked the police officers on the ground, who fired teargas. Out of a crowd of tens of thousands in the 11th arrondissement in Paris, small groups of demonstrators tossed small objects at the police, which hardened the demonstration, hitting other demonstrators and reporters accidentally.
According to the national trade union CGT, over 1 million individuals had attended protests in the whole of France, but the Interior Ministry estimated this figure much lower because only 500,000 people had demonstrated. The Paris prefecture announced, early on Thursday evening, that 50000 individuals had participated in the pan-union protest in the capital. The Interior Ministry, in a statement issued at 6 pm local time, had reported making 180 arrests throughout the country, 31 of which were in Paris.
This is why these protests are the largest social movement in France
Bruno Retailleau, the outgoing interior minister, reported that 309 arrests have taken place all over the country and 134 individuals are in the hands of the police. Levelheaded protests had previously taken place all day throughout the nation as hundreds of thousands of individuals participated in both strikes and demonstrations over the new austerity measures received by the government.
The nature of such budget cuts is controversial to workers.
The use of transportation in and around the French capital has already been hit badly. Metro and commuter trains depressed in Paris run at lower capacity, and regional trains in the Paris region are disrupted significantly. National rail SNCF reports that nine out of 10 high-speed TGV trains continue to work, yet in regional trains, one of the TER lines operates at some 60 percent.
We currently have a government that does not hear us and, in fact, the exact opposite of what the people require; it is what the protester in one of the demonstrations in the capital of France, Alexandre, explained to Euronews. A government, a government that mugs fellow men, it is time that everyone should stand up; the people of France should be a dignified bunch. We are faced with a state of injustice.
Why Prime Minister Lecornu is experiencing unusual political pressure
In a press release, Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu announced that he would re-contact the representatives of trade unions in the next few days. Lecornu emphasized that the demands of the protesters are the core of the consultations, which are currently taking place among unions and other political parties. Despite the fact that the new Prime Minister, Sebastien Lecornu, was quick to withdraw one of the least popular plans, which was to abolish two public holidays, he has not yet discarded the other.
The deficit of 5.8 percent of Tokyo last year, almost twice the 3 percent ceiling enforced in the European Union, whereas the national debt has climbed to above EUR3.3 trillion, an equivalent of about 114 percent of the gross domestic product. The leaders of both hard-line CGT and influential CFDT unions spoke on Thursday: Sophie Binet told the head of the CGT that the strike was already successful in the country, whilst her CFDT colleague, Marylise Leon, gave a very loud warning to the Prime Minister, Sebastien Lecornu: Do what you like in the budget.