While estimates of turnout vary, polls show three-quarters of people approve of protests, writes RUADHÁN Mac CORMAICin Paris
RED FLARES and drumbeats rose from the crowd at Les Invalides in Paris as dusk fell last night on the sixth and most disruptive day of protest against President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension reform.
With the Eiffel Tower illuminated in the background, hundreds remained in the light rain, singing and chanting and adamant the fight would go on.
After a day of sporadic scuffles across the country, the authorities were taking no chances: hundreds of riot police in scores of vans penned the protesters in behind metal grilles to block them from crossing the river.
The security cordon around the Élysée Palace was widened too, in case the marchers planned to take their message directly to the president.
While strike rates among transport and other public workers have held steady over the past month, it was the involvement of oil workers and students since last week that signalled the radicalisation of the movement. “We’re doubly affected,” said 18-year-old student Mael Laisné yesterday. “Like everyone else, we’ll be retiring later, but also there will be fewer jobs for young people.”
Laisné accepted the protests were only “half” about Mr Sarkozy’s pension reform. The discontent was also a reflection of “anger over all his other policies as well,” he added.
“This battle is going to be the biggest of Sarkozy’s term,” his friend, Gaspard Lepage (19), chipped in. “It’s becoming more radical in the last few days.”
On the sixth day of protest in as many weeks, refinery workers, airport staff, train drivers and postal workers all walked off work in large numbers, while students kept up their protests over the plan to raise the minimum retirement age from 60 to 62.
Once again, there were huge gaps in the turnout estimates, with unions claiming some 3.5 million people took part and police putting the figure at 1.1 million.
In France, where the power and legends of “the street” are deeply embedded in the political culture, the protesters have found ample public sympathy: the latest polls show almost three-quarters of the public approves of their agitation. Even the unions’ sternest critics don’t query the principle of recourse to the streets.
A grey sky loomed low over the capital yesterday, making the atmosphere seem more ominous still. The roads were quieter and long queues formed at petrol stations across the city. Some 50km north of the city, more than 80 cars blocked a motorway lane as they waited to fill up.
Speaking in the resort town of Deauville, Mr Sarkozy appealed to demonstrators to show restraint and said the government would ensure that petrol stations – 4,000 of which had run out of fuel by yesterday due to refinery and depot blockades – would be resupplied. It was his “duty” to enact the reform, he added.
Police used tear gas to disperse protesters in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the mayor said some 200 youths set cars on fire and smashed public property. Isolated scuffles and looting were also reported in Lyon and in other cities.
Such incidents have caused unease in the protest movement, with at least one union suggesting the campaign will have to be reviewed later this week.
Sébastien Viana, a 32-year-old striking security guard at Les Invalides, said he was worried that violence by those “who have nothing to do with the campaign” could undermine the cause. “But you could say it’s understandable,” he added, “because we have the impression we’re not being listened to.” With school holidays due next week, the government hopes that the student protests will peter out. “That’s why today is so important,” said Mael Laisné.
“It’s the biggest one before holiday.”