French youth hold rallies in Paris against government pension reform

A dozen youth organisations marched through Paris on Saturday afternoon, to show their anger over the government's pension reform. Actively supported by far-left party France Unbowed party, they are hoping to capitalise on the success of the massive inter-union march and strike on Thursday.

People demonstrate against pension changes, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023 in Paris. AP - Lewis Joly

"Resistance!", "We are here, even if Macron does not want it", read the slogans on signs held by members of the dozen youth organisations gathered at the head of the procession in Paris.

Left-wing France Unbowed (LFI) leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon congratulated the demonstrators on his Twitter page, saying that 150,000 people turned out. Independent audit company Occurrence counted 14,000 protesters.

Speaking to the crowds, former presidential candidate slammed Emmanuel Macron for "wanting to transform our entire existence into merchandise (...) dirty everything, spoil everything, reduce everything, quantify everything".

The turnout was also praised by Colin Champion, president of the La Voix Lycéenne union while L'Alternative, another student union, welcomed "a very massive youth turnout".

Antisocial measure

"We realized that the young people wanted to put themselves forward, that they felt the first concerned," says Philippe Juraver, one of the LFI representatives told French news agency AFP on Saturday.

Young people fear "a reduction in the number of jobs", said Noémie Stickan, representative of the FIDL high school student union adding that students want "to say stop to this antisocial measure" of the postponement of the retirement age to 64 years.

"We are revolted, we want to fight it out, we want to say that we will not be the sacrificial generation," Zoé Lorioux-Chevalier, member of Génération.s told AFP.

150 000 personnes réunies pour la #Marche21Janvier à Paris.

Bravo aux organisations de jeunesse d'avoir su aussi largement mobiliser #PourNosRetraites. On continue ! pic.twitter.com/pSTNrOIBmE

— Jean-Luc Mélenchon (@JLMelenchon) January 21, 2023

Government bowled over

Their march action comes on the heels of a massive inter-professional protest and strike on Thursday.

Over 1.1 million people took to the streets to oppose President Macron's move to extend the retirement age to 64 from 62, according to interior ministry figures, an unexpectedly high turnout.

Taken aback, the French government on Friday signalled readiness for compromise on the unpopular plan but vowed that its core measures would remain intact.

Government spokesman Olivier Veran insisted Friday that "this reform is essential and it must get done", but also flagged the possibility of "amending" the government's original proposal as it starts its way through parliament.

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The youth organisers insist that their action was intended to amplify the union movement, not be counter productive.

"It's not at all a question of competition between rallies, it's complementary," insisted Eléonore Schmitt, spokesperson for the student union L'Alternative.

However, the movement did not get the support of the main student union Unef, whose president Imane Ouelhadj said they preferred a "united trade union front to organize the struggle as broadly as possible".

And, unlike the march against the high cost of living in October, the left alliance Nupes did not support this initiative either, all three parties (EELV, PCF and PS) believing it necessary to let the unions do the talking.

Next day of action

Buoyed by Thursday's success, French unions have announced their next day of action for 31 January, hoping that further mass mobilisation and widespread strikes will force the government to back down.

"We will carry on until the reform plan is withdrawn," said Marie Buisson, secretary general of the powerful far-left CGT Education union, calling for "massive and strong strike action".

Yvan Ricordeau, boss of the moderate CFDT union, said that "as long as reform plans are based on raising the retirement age, unions will mobilise".

Unions are also planning to needle the government with smaller but frequent protests, including on 23 January when the reform plan is submitted to the cabinet for approval.

Buisson said the next big protest day would be even bigger than on Thursday, when 40 percent of teachers were on strike, 45 percent of rail workers, half of staff at state-owned utility EDF and most workers at energy giant TotalEnergies.

(with newswires)