“Macron speaks, the street answers him”: how is the mobilization against the pension reform seen from abroad?

In the eyes of the international press, an image particularly marked during the ninth day of mobilization against the pension reform: the fire at the door of the town hall of Bordeaux. “Fire in front of the town hall of Bordeaux”, headlined the German magazine “Der Spiegel” on its site. Taken up in many countries, this information is seen as the demonstration of what happened in France on Thursday, namely the “fury in the streets as a million people march against Macron”as the “Times” titled it.

“If the French president seems determined not to back down, the same goes for the protesters”deciphers the “New York Times”, which evokes a “surge of protests”. Same observation for the Spanish daily “El País”: “the detractors [d’Emmanuel Macron, NDLR] have no intention of putting away their signs and going home”. The mobilization – which gathered between 1.08 million (according to the Interior) and 3.5 million (according to the CGT) – impresses. The other major Spanish newspaper “El Mundo” headlines “the mother of all strikes”in reference to the nickname often given to pension reform (“the mother of all reforms”). “Macron speaks, the street responds to him”continues the center-right newspaper.

more si “the crowd was dense and angry with the government and the president”the “Guardian” specifies that “the atmosphere was also festive and motivated by a demonstration of solidarity”. And yes “the atmosphere has become heavyit’s because “of a group of young people called thugs, dressed in black and wearing masks, who had positioned themselves at the head of the march”continues the British daily.

Pinned police violence

With photos, videos and testimonies, the international press returned to the violence that punctuated the mobilizations. While Paris has gathered most of the information, the Italian daily “La Stampa” does not forget to point out that there have been “clashes also in the rest of the country”. For “La Repubblica”, another centre-left transalpine newspaper, “unlike the last union demonstrations, the internal security services did not manage this time to contain the thugs, who went into action, setting fire to the garbage cans, attacking the police on several occasions , and throwing cobblestones and firecrackers”.

Many media also underline the violence of the security forces in the confrontations. “Police violence towards protesters has come under scrutiny as many tell online and to French media of being beaten or arbitrarily detained by riot police in recent weeks”says the “Washington Post”.

“Police repression has even been criticized by Amnesty International for the violence used by the police, in particular against journalists and photographers”, adds the Argentine daily “Clarín”. He also says that “The Australian government has lodged a protest against the police attacks on two of its citizens”.

"A power experienced as contemptuous, insensitive"

Through this day of protest, the question arises of the posture of Emmanuel Macron and the rest of his five-year term. “In a way, the battle is already won since the president pushed through the pension reform bill”, says the BBC. And if “the protesters say they will continue” in hope of "bring down the government"the one "table on a shortness of breath"details the British broadcaster.

The desire of the Head of State to quickly turn the page is explained rather because “the tumult around the pension reform has turned into the biggest internal crisis of his second term”, warned “The Daily Telegraph”. To support his point, the conservative British daily headlined the fate of the president who could be the same as "the decapitated King Louis XVI"given the "fury" Some protestors.

For the journalist of the "Soir", Belgian daily, these mobilizations are explained by "a country suddenly seized with immense retching in the face of a power experienced as contemptuous, insensitive". The French express “something resembling a sudden nausea in the face of a power jeered at with all the nuances of anger and contempt”. In summary : “it is the very person of Emmanuel Macron who is suddenly considered unbearable”.

Pushing the cursor even further, the “Financial Times” title: “Is France on the way to a VI^e Republic ? ». For the British economic daily, the anger of the French “transcends Macron's pensions and authoritarianism. This is a widespread and enduring rage against the state and its incarnation, the president”. Was this ninth day of mobilization “the last stand of the movement” or “the beginning of a new phase of struggle” who will allow the demonstrators to obtain changes? “It is the figures of the next major mobilization that will tell us”says the Swiss newspaper "Le Temps".