More than 370 saucepans have responded to French President Emmanuel Macron’s address to the nation, in which he has defended the “necessary” raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 and later the contestation has raised the tone with riots in several French cities.

Macron promised in his speech “one hundred days of appeasement” with labor improvements, migration control and a reinforcement of the judicial system after weeks of social protest against a reform that the president has called “necessary.” Pro la paz has not yet reached the streets.

The Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and Citizen Action (Attac) has reported the pans convened in public spaces, mainly squaresin different parts of the country, including the Plaza del Ayuntamiento in Paris, where hundreds of people have gathered.

The demonstration had a moment of tension with the police, according to France 3, which highlights that calm returned a few minutes later. Concentrations have also been held in other Parisian neighborhoods.

The image has been repeated in Toulouse, Rennes, Amiens, Limoges or Marseille with these “pot concerts” held at the same time that Macron appeared on French screens. In Dijon the concentration was not authorized and the Police used tear gas to disperse the attendees.

Later, there have been riots in Lyonwhere the demonstrators have used fireworks against the Police. In Rennes the Police have used water cannons and tear gas. There have also been protests in Bordeaux, Angers, Nantes or Rennes, where a thousand demonstrators have been counted, according to ‘Le Figaro’.

The Parisian Prefecture has reported 2,000 protesters in the X District and the XIII District, in addition to the concentration in the Plaza de la Villa.

“Disconnected” from citizenship

Different opposition parties have charged against the French president and have accused him of being “disconnected” from the citizenry.

The founder of La Francia Insumisa, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has indicated on the aforementioned social network that Macron is “out of reality”. “He assumes the theft of two years of freedoms. The saucepans sound more accurate”, he has sentenced, alluding to the more than 300 saucepans that have occurred during his speech.

The leader of the opposition Agrupación Nacional party, the far-right Marine Le Penhas stated on his Twitter profile that Macron, instead of “reestablishing the link” with the citizenry, he has returned to “turning his back on them and ignoring their suffering”.

“This practice of exercising power in a disconnected, solitary and obtuse way marks the continuation of a five-year period of contempt, indifference and brutality that will have to come out after (going to) the polls,” he said, referring to future elections in the country.

The president of Los Republicanos, Eric Ciotti, has also spoken about it on Twitter, assuring that there is “nothing new.” “The method (of Government) does not change with laudable objectives if there is not the slightest questioning (of the decisions made)”, he has sentenced.

On the side of the Socialist Party, its secretary general, Olivier Fauré, has accused Macron of being an “incendiary president”. “From the palace of the bogged down, the arsonist president promises 100 days to put out the fire that feeds daily,” he said on his Twitter profile.

The unions answer

Later, the general secretary of the General Confederation of Workers (CGT), Sophie Binet, has wondered “what planet Macron lives on”. “This speech could have been made by ChatGPT,” he ironized during an interview on TF1 Info in which he also made it clear that the president’s actions “damage the image of France abroad.”

The Secretary General of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (DFDT), Laurent Bergerhas specified in the words of Macron, who has left the “door open” for the unions to meet at the Elysee, that this door “has been triple locked for three months.”

Berger regretted, during an interview with the BFMTV channel, that his words are “a kind of emptiness” that show “his contempt for the workers”. In this sense, he has indicated that “the regret” of the head of state about the lack of consensus in the different sectors “does not change much.”

On the other hand, in a joint statement, the inter-union has accused the French president of not having “still understood the anger that is expressed in the country and that persists.” “He is solely responsible for an explosive situation,” he said in a statement on his Twitter profile.