French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday stressed he would continue to reform his pension rules, ignoring calls by union leaders to suspend new pension laws, amid the worst street violence in France in recent years.
Clashes broke out across France on Thursday night, on the outskirts of peaceful protests that for weeks have gathered many people who oppose a two-year retirement age increase to 64 years.
A police station was targeted in the western city of Lorient, the main entrance to the Bordeaux city hall was burned and hundreds of fires broke out across the country. A total of 441 police officers were injured and 475 people arrested. Dozens of protesters were also injured.
As a result of the violence and clashes during the demonstration, Britain's King Charles III's state visit to France, originally scheduled for Sunday, has been postponed.
Earlier that day, the head of the CFDT labor union Laurent Berger, urged President Macron to "make a signal" to calm things down. The solution, the influential Berger suggested, was to temporarily suspend reform for six months and seek compromise.
But when asked about this after the EU summit in Brussels, President Macron simply repeated comments he made earlier this week about his openness to discuss future policy changes with trade unions.
"We will continue to move forward. France must not stop," he said.
"We will not give up on violence, I condemn violence with all our might," he continued.
He added that the pension law, which is government-driven through parliament without voting, would run on its own, which is currently being reviewed for legality by the French constitutional council.
Separately, in Paris and many cities across the country, cleaners sorted through broken glass, charred trash cans, and bus stops that were destroyed after violent clashes overnight between anarchists in black and police clothes.
It is known that polls show the majority of voters oppose the pension bill. They are increasingly angry with the government's decision to miss the vote in parliament and by President Macron who compared several protests with raids on the US Congress Building on January 6, 2021.
This latest wave of protests and clashes has been the most serious challenge for President Macron's Administration, since the "Linging Rompi" uprising by working-class people who were dissatisfied four years ago.
Meanwhile, for Paul, a retiree in Paris, it's too much.
"Violence is never a way to be heard," he said.
However, Bastien Mrozovski, understands better, at the time polls showed many people were disappointed by Macron's leadership style.
"There have been attempts to try with soft diplomacy, with trade unions, with quite peaceful protests over the past few weeks. Now, there is a forced threshold, leading to violence on the other hand," said Mrozovski.
It is known that unions have called for regional action over the weekend and new national strikes and protests on Tuesday.
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