Macron branded ‘madman’ and warned ‘anger won’t stop’ over pensions
Violent clashes continue over France’s pension age reforms
French President Emmanuel Macron has received a stern warning from protestors against his pension reform who have said demonstrations will not stop until he caves to demands to backtrack on the plans. The French President was branded a “madman” by Boris Vallaud, leader of the PS deputies in the National Assembly, who claimed Macron is insisting on a “political coup de force”.
He told LCI and Le Figaro: “[Macron] is a madman (…) entrenched in the Élysée.
“When you are entrenched in the Elysée and you only listen to yourself, I don’t have many adjectives other than that.
“It is a political coup de force and it is a democratic crisis.
“When you discredit social dialogue, when you step on the social partners (…), when you do not respect the parliamentary institution, when you brutalise it (…), when in the street you have people demonstrating by the hundreds of thousands, by the millions, yes, it is a democratic coup because you are diminishing democracy.”
Echoing his words, Communist Party politician Fabien Gay told Parement Hebdo anger in the country “will not go away”.
The Communist senator said: “No, the anger is there. 93 percent of the working population, 7 out of 10 French people, 11 demonstrations, 3 months of mobilisation…
“There is a lot of talk about Paris, but people are also mobilising in the prefectures and sub-prefectures. It won’t stop.
“We were told that with the 49.3, the debate was over. And yet since then, a human tide continues to flow, people do not want to pay for two years of their lives to satisfy the financial markets.”
The communist senator called for a “political solution”, either a withdrawal of the bill or a referendum, and not “the solution of police repression”, as it seems to be taking shape according to him.
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He said: “I have always condemned the rioters because they make the political and social questions deviate on the questions of violence, so we must condemn this ultraminority and not deviate the social movement.”
However, Fabien Gay believes that, since the use of the 49-3, there has been “a change in the maintenance of order”.
He added: “The police have started chasing demonstrators, which is forbidden. They use offensive weapons.
“When a railway worker from my area loses an eye, I don’t find that acceptable.”
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Macron is currently on a two-day visits to The Netherlands.
The French leader was suprised by a small group of people protesting his pension reforms in Amsterdam.
The angry protesters briefly held up a banner in French that said: “We will not be beaten into retirement.”
About 400,000 people joined a protest against Macron’s pension reforms in Paris on Thursday, the French CGT union reportedly said.
Additional reporting by Maria Ortega
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