AUTHORITIES TO DEPLOY 11,000 POLICE AS FRANCE BRACES FOR NEW STRIKES

Mon 30 January 2023:

The security for nationwide protests against a proposed pension reform would be provided by 11,000 police officers and gendarmes, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced on Monday.

On January 19, the first wave of protests against the legislation that would raise the retirement age in the nation began. Tuesday’s second wave of protests is expected to involve more than 200 demonstrations across France.

“Eleven thousand policemen and gendarmes will be mobilized throughout France on this day, with 4,000 in Paris. Thus, there will be 1,000 more police officers than on the previous day of the nationwide demonstration,” Darmanin said, as aired by a French broadcaster.

On January 10, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne presented a draft pension reform legislation, which the government plans to implement in September. According to Borne’s plan, the French government will begin to raise the retirement age in the country by three months per year from September 1, gradually increasing it from the current age of 62 to 64 by 2030.

Macron and his allies are also facing struggles in parliament as well as on the street.

The left-wing opposition has submitted more than 7,000 amendments to the draft legislation in a bid to slow its path through parliament.

Macron’s centrist allies, short of an absolute majority in parliament, will need votes from conservatives to get their pensions plan approved.

A new poll by the OpinionWay survey group, published on Monday in Les Echos newspaper, showed that 61 percent of French people supported the protest movement, a rise of 3.0 percentage points from January 12.

The first wave of protests saw more than 200 strikes around France, with the biggest demonstrations occurring in Paris, Marseilles, Lyon, Toulouse, Lille, and Nantes.

More than a million people, according to the French Interior Ministry, participated in the demonstrations. During the protests, 38 protesters were detained.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

FOLLOW INDEPENDENT PRESS:

TWITTER (CLICK HERE)
https://twitter.com/IpIndependent