:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/CZ2INCLPXG5PENX7EWSQYZNKUI.jpg)
Thousands of people joined May Day protests across France on Sunday to demand social justice and salary increases, and to push newly re-elected president Emmanuel Macron to drop his plan to raise the retirement age.
Most rallies were peaceful, but in Paris police intervened after black-clad “black bloc” anarchists tried to erect a barricade in a street near La Republique Square, police said. A McDonald’s restaurant and a real estate agency on the Place Leon Blum were also ransacked, their windows broken and garbage bins set on fire.
The cost of living was the main theme in the presidential election campaign and looks set to be equally prominent ahead of June legislative elections that Macron’s party and its allies must win if he is to be able to implement his pro-business policies, including increasing retirement age to 65 for 62
About 250 rallies were organised in Paris and other cities including Lille, Nantes, Toulouse and Marseille.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/ZUZMW3UU6UQN245PKMK7VL7ATE.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/UZD7YN5NXKRALIEHZACU5Q42GE.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/WLRUHJXHY3TAZGEXACWTJ5UBEA.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QY7DIIS4KFO3O2ARI25BTEOVPM.jpg)
In the French capital trade unionists were joined by political figures – mostly from the left – and climate activists.
Marchers carried banners reading “Retirement Before Arthritis”, “Retirement at 60, Freeze Prices” and “Macron, Get Out”
“The stronger the mobilisation for this May Day, the harder we will be able to weigh on the government’s policies,” Philippe Martinez, the head of the hardline CGT union, told Reuters before the rallies.
“The government has got to deal with the purchasing power problem by raising wages,” he said.
Run-off vote
Mr Macron won a new five-year presidential term after beating far-right challenger Marine Le Pen in last Sunday’s run-off vote.
Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon, who came third in the first round of the presidential vote, was attending the Paris march. He wants to rally a union of the left, including the Greens, to dominate parliament and force Mr Macron into an awkward “cohabitation” but so far this has not materialised.
“We will not make a single concession on pensions,” Mr Melenchon said before the march started.
He said he still hoped an agreement to build a new “popular union” of the left could be reached.
France will hold parliamentary elections on June 12th and June 19th.
– Reuters