Unions accuse Macron of wanting to discredit the protests

The main French union leaders charged this Thursday against the intention they perceive in the president, Emmanuel Macronto discredit the protests against their pension reform due to the riots that have occurred in some of them, which they consider marginal.

The general secretaries of the two large centrals, the CDFT and the CGT, denounced in statements at the beginning of the demonstration in Paris the comparisons Macron made on Wednesday between the acts of violence in recent days in France with the attacks of the extreme right in Brazil and the United States.

“It’s a provocation” stressed the leader of the General Confederation of Labor (CGT), Philippe Martínez, who worked to minimize the possibility of unions being overwhelmed by extremist groups and spontaneous demonstrations: “what is not organized is very marginal”.

The head of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), Laurent Berger, also complained about these comparisons by the head of state, after repeating that he and his union always condemn any violent action against property and people.

Berger and Martínez assured that in this ninth day of national mobilization against the pension reform, the first since its adoption on Monday, the number of protesters is at the level of the most crowded since the beginning of the movement more than two months ago.

The leader of the CGT pointed out that, contrary to the government’s commitment, the movement is not losing steam, but today’s is “one of the biggest mobilizations”.

The truth is that, as the information services of the Police had already anticipated, the demonstrations that took place this morning degenerated into riots in some cities, particularly in Rennes, where the forces of order used pressurized water cannons and tear gas to disperse some protesters who clashed with the police.

In the same region of Brittany, incidents occurred in Lorient and the Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin, on his Twitter account, disqualified the “unacceptable attacks and degradations” from the sub-prefecture (government delegation) and from a police station, where several officers were injured. Darmanin affirmed that “these acts cannot go unpunished.”

Source: EFE