National strike: tensions in Paris, during the demonstration, the strike was renewed until Monday included

Thursday’s strike against the pension reform was particularly followed, with 806,000 demonstrators across France, according to official figures.

Trains were stationary and public transport disrupted in many cities. The call for mobilization, initially launched in transport, SNCF and the RATP, has been relayed in recent weeks by many professional categories, public and private.

The Ministry of the Interior has counted 806,000 demonstrators in France. Among the massive mobilizations, the authorities counted at least 33,000 people in Toulouse, 25,000 in Marseille, 20,000 in Lyon, Montpellier, Nante and Bordeaux. For its part, the CGT evokes more than 1.5 million, the actual figures could be estimated at 1.2 million.

The Paris demonstration experienced some violence on Boulevard Magenta and Place de la Republique. About 50 thugs burned a prefabricated building site and smashed windows in and around the Place de la République, provoking a clash with the police and chaos in just a few minutes.

The unfolding of the mobilization against the pension reform on Thursday had sometimes the airs of 1st-May 2019. While the demonstration took place overall in the calm, framed by some 6,000 police and gendarmes, a group of radical activists positioned upstream of official procession caused chaos in minutes.

71 people were in custody at 20:00, said the Paris prosecutor.
31 people were arrested in Bordeaux mainly for throwing projectiles, violence against persons holding public authority, according to the prefecture. Eleven members of the security forces were « slightly injured, » according to the authorities.

In Rennes several hundred breakers broke windows and clashed with police and 10 people were placed in police custody, according to the prefecture.

In Montpellier, clashes took place between students who wanted to block the campus and those who opposed it. Two student strikers were wounded with batons by « anti-blocking ».

Scuffles erupted in Toulouse at the end of the protest against the pension reform, making five « light » wounded including three policemen, according to the prefecture. The Observatory of Police Practices reports two wounded by LBD shots. 22 people were arrested.

Transport, education, civil service: mobilization has been massive in several sectors.

55.6% of strikers at the SNCF.
46.6% of teachers strikers. The Ministry of Education has identified 51.15% of teachers strikers in the primary and 42.32% in the secondary.
More than one in four civil servants on strike (ministry).
41.4% of strikers in EDF according to management, between 50 to 60% of employees according to the CGT.
Seven of the eight refineries in France were on strike.

The strike is renewed this Friday, December 6 at the SNCF and the RATP. The disturbances will again be important, « comparable » to those of Thursday:

SNCF
One in ten trains will circulate. 90% of the TGV and 70% of the TER are canceled.

RATP
Ten of sixteen metro stations will be closed in Paris (2, 3, 3bis, 5, 6, 7bis, 10, 11, 12 and 13). Traffic will remain « extremely disturbed » in Ile-de-France throughout the RATP network, the strike has been renewed until Monday included.

Many canceled flights
As for Thursday, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation has requested the cancellation of 20% of flights on the French territory, departure and arrival, for Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly, Beauvais , Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux.

As a result, Air France has announced the cancellation of 30% of its domestic flights and nearly 10% of its medium-haul flights.

But some of the teachers will be on strike again on Friday. Neither the unions nor the ministry had predictions on the scale of the movement on Thursday afternoon. Inter-unions must also meet Friday morning for a new day of mobilization Tuesday, December 10.

An inter-union meeting bringing together the CGT, FO, FSU, Solidaires and youth movements Fidl, MNL, UNL and Unef to decide on the continuation of the strike is scheduled for Friday morning. Several recent polls have shown that the movement was mostly supported by the French.

During the protest against the pension reform, police beat a protester on the ground, without questioning him later. If we do not have the general context, this lack of interpellation raises questions. In addition, the police seem to bury the baton on the person on the ground. What revive the debate on police violence. We learn that the IGPN, the « font police », was seized by the Paris prosecutor’s office and an investigation is opened.

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