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Fiery Paris Protests Continue as Nation Revolts Against Macron’s Globalist Government

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Violent protests continued in Paris again on Tuesday evening on the tenth straight day of demonstrations against the government of President Emmanuel Macron, which enraged the nation by steamrolling through reforms to the pension system without a vote through the use of a constitutional loophole earlier this month.

At least 70 people were arrested in Paris on Tuesday as France once again saw nationwide demonstrations against President Macron’s push to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64-years-old was rammed through the National Assembly earlier this month without a vote.

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 28: A protester holds a placard next to fire during a rally against pension reforms on March 28, 2023 in Paris, France. The country has experienced weeks of protests and strike actions related to a rise in the pension age, which was passed last week. The 10th day of nationwide protests in France against the pension reforms are also calling out the police brutality from pervious strikes. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 28: A protester holds a placard next to fire during a rally against pension reforms on March 28, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

According to the Ministry of Interior some 740,000 people protested throughout the country, 93,000 of whom demonstrated in the capital city. The organising CGT trade union confederation — which also has been coordinating labour strikes across France — claimed that two million protesters came out on the streets of France, with 450,000 in Paris, Le Figaro reported. It is possible the true number fell somewhere in between.

French media noted that the demo in Paris did not raise to the level forecast by the Ministry of the Interior, who anticipated “very significant risks of disturbance to public order” on Tuesday evening.

However, some radical protesters continued to clash with police, set fires in the streets, and loot and vandalise businesses, showing that the chaos enveloping the country is likely to continue.

Some 10,000 gendarmes and police officers were deployed in the city of love ahead of the protest and carried out preventative arrests of 27 people believed to be violent instigators. The police forces claimed have seized weapons from black bloc Antifa-style radicals, including knives, hammers, ‘mortar’ explosive devices — quite likely powerful fireworks — and other types of bladed weapons.

Police were also once again seen firing off tear gas canisters into the rowdy crowds, and were seen using forceful tactics to subdue apparent agitators.

The tenth straight day of protests comes amid national strikes that have seen labour union workers walk off the job, causing severe disruptions to social services, notably including the collection of trash, which has seen thousands of tonnes of garbage line the streets of Paris over the past weeks.

The buildup has literally been fuelling the protests, with trash fires frequently being set during protests over the past two weeks.

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 28: A man adds a placard to a street fire during a rally against pension reforms on March 28, 2023 in Paris, France. The country has experienced weeks of protests and strike actions related to a rise in the pension age, which was passed last week. The 10th day of nationwide protests in France against the pension reforms are also calling out the police brutality from pervious strikes. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 28: A man adds a placard to a street fire during a rally against pension reforms on March 28, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

The CTG announced that the strike for garbage collectors would be suspended on Wednesday in order to clear the rubbish — the build-up of which has sparked concerns of disease outbreaks and an invasion of rats — but the trade union confederation did warn that the strike could once again commence if the government does not withdraw its pension reforms.

The strikes have also seen shortages of fuel at the pump across the country, with workers not only walking out of refineries but some actively enacting blockades to prevent processed fuel from being shipped out.

PARIS, FRANCE - MARCH 28: Police officers pass by a fire as they charge protesters during a rally against pension reforms on March 28, 2023 in Paris, France. The country has experienced weeks of protests and strike actions related to a rise in the pension age, which was passed last week. The 10th day of nationwide protests in France against the pension reforms are also calling out the police brutality from pervious strikes. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

PARIS, FRANCE – MARCH 28: Police officers pass by a fire as they charge protesters during a rally against pension reforms on March 28, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

While Macron’s government appears to be content to try to wait out the protesters, the nationwide chaos will likely continue to serve as a major distraction from his globalist-minded agenda. Mr Macron, who won re-election last year but later lost his majority in the National Assembly, used much of the first year of his second term to jet around the world to various international conferences focussing on nebulous issues such as climate change or on the war in Ukraine.

Macron, a former Parisian Rothschild banker, has also faced widespread criticism at home for being the “president of the rich“, with the government doing little to try to mitigate the ongoing cost of living crisis, which came as a result, in large part, of his government’s decision to enact strict lockdown measures during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

Bordeaux City Hall Set on Fire Amid French Retirement Age Rise Protests

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Five people have been arrested by French police after the doors to the city hall of Bordeaux were set on fire on Thursday evening amid ongoing country-wide protests against increasing the state pension age.

The fire was lit in the evening, with the first person arrested, a 25-year-old, caught throwing objects at the fire in order to try and make it spread around 8:30 p.m.

In total, five people were arrested at the scene and are currently in the custody of the zonal directorate of the judicial police for the south-west, which is investigating the detainees for acts of arson, Sud Ouest reports.

Investigators say that two of the suspects in the incident are homeless people in their twenties. Two others are said to be aged 16 and 19.

It remains unclear whether any of the suspects were the ones who started the fire, or if they simply tried to make it spread by throwing objects onto it.

The five arrests came after four others were apprehended by police in the city following the end of a demonstration against the recent pension age increase pushed through by the government of President Emmanuel Macron, which used an article of the constitution to pass the legislation without a vote in the National Assembly.

Among those arrested earlier in the evening in Bordeaux was a 50-year-old man who allegedly set fire to a barricade, a 43-year-old homeless man who threw objects at police, a 17-year-old and a 23-year-old who also threw objects at officials, and a 23-year-old woman who attacked police and tried to spread fires.

Bordeaux was not the only city to see rioting and urban violence on Thursday evening, however. In Nantes, significant damage was caused to the local administrative court, which was also ransacked by demonstrators.

As many as 80,000 people marched on the streets of Nantes on Thursday to protest the retirement age being increased, with the protest described as the largest mobilisation since the demonstrations against Macron’s scheme began several weeks prior.

Johanna Rolland, Mayor of Nantes, spoke out and condemned the violence, saying: “People who commit these unjustifiable acts penalize the message peacefully carried by thousands of people for two months.”

Despite the protests, Macron has stood firm on his decision to force through the controversial pension changes, claiming that he had no regrets despite days of rioting and protests.

Follow Chris Tomlinson on Twitter at @TomlinsonCJ or email at ctomlinson(at)breitbart.com.

Jupiter Falling? Macron Govt in Jeopardy as Opposition Parties File Motions of No Confidence

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Opposition parties in France’s National Assembly, including Marine Le Pen’s populist National Rally (RN) and the centrist Liot group, filed motions of no-confidence in President Emmanuel Macron’s government on Friday after it used a controversial mechanism to pass a contentious increase to the pension age without a vote on Thursday.

The fate of the government of Emmanuel Macron, who once proclaimed that he would govern France like Jupiter, the Roman king of the gods, was thrown into question on Friday as a growing coalition from across the political spectrum lined up to table measures of censure (no confidence) in his government in response to Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne invoking article 49.3 of the constitution to ram through legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 without a vote after it appeared that it would not gain a majority in the National Assembly.

If a measure of censure is adopted, President Macron’s minority government in the National Assembly would collapse, and Prime Minster Elisabeth Borne would be forced to resign, throwing into question Mr Macron’s political future just one year into his second term in office, Le Parisien reports.

Currently, Marine Le Pen’s populist right-wing National Rally (RN) and the Liot group of centrist MPs in the French parliament have tabled no-confidence measures.

In a statement, RN said: “While the French are massively demonstrating their opposition to this reform, the national representation has not, at any time, been able to vote on this text, which is, despite the legality of the process, a serious attack on democratic principles.”

The motion from Liot, a small group of just 20 members in the NA comprised of centre-left, centre-right, and Corsican nationalist parties was co-signed by the NUPES coalition led by the far-left socialist Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who is often compared to Bernie Sanders in America or former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn in Britain.

“The vote on this motion will allow us to get out on top of a deep political crisis,” said the head of the Liot group Bertrand Pancher.

Mélenchon, who is no longer a sitting member of the assembly, said that “we have decided to give censorship the greatest possible chances, to withdraw our own motion in favour of LIOT’s motion, a decision taken last night by the group.”

For a no-confidence motion to succeed in the National Assembly, it must receive 287 votes in favour. Combined, the Liot group, National Rally, and the NUPES coalition have a total of 259 members in the parliamentary body.

Crucially, the establishment-right Les Republicains (LR), which was key in preventing the minority Macron government from gaining a majority for his pension reform plans, have yet to formally back either motion.

The president of the LR, Éric Ciotti, said that his group would not support any motion of censure, however, claiming that “the crisis situation in the country would not tolerate … a fatal blow to our democracy”.

Yet it is unclear if all members of the 61-member party will vote in lockstep, with the party’s third highest-ranking member, secretary-general Aurélien Pradié, saying that all MPs are “totally free to participate in another motion of censure”

Should the disparate political factions come together to pass one of the motions, not only would the pension reforms be rejected, but the government would fall and Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne would have to tender her resignation to President Macron, who in turn would likely be forced to dissolve the parliament.

The pension reforms, which would raise the retirement age to 64 — an age that would still be lower than other European nations such as Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom — have sparked nationwide trade union-organised protests, which have seen some of the largest demonstrations in decades.

Spontaneous protests broke out on Thursday evening across the country on Thursday following the government’s invocation of the loophole. Rioters clashed with police, smashed storefronts, and set fires in cities such as Paris, Nantes, and Marseilles, resulting in some 310 arrests.

The ability of rioters to start fires was greatly enhanced by a garbage workers’ strike, which has seen some 10,000 tonnes of waste left sitting out on the streets of Paris.

Protests continued throughout the day on Friday, with activists attempting to block a major ring road around the French capital and others staging blockades, including at the Port of Calais, which is responsible for traffic across the English Channel.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

Paris Burns: Hundreds Arrested as Rioters Set Trash Fires, Clash with Cops After Macron Tries to Pass Pension Reform Without a Vote

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Hundreds of people were arrested in Paris on Thursday evening as spontaneous protests and riots sprung up after President Emmanuel Macron’s government invoked a constitutional loophole to pass its controversial legislation to raise the retirement age without a vote in the National Assembly.

As of midnight Paris time, some 217 people were arrested in the French capital after the city erupted in rage after the National Assembly was bypassed by the globalist Macron government which used article 49.3 of the constitution to pass through its controversial plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64-years-old by the year 2030 in order to keep the programme from going under.

The ‘city of light’ was set ablaze by radicals who set fires across Paris, enabled, in part by the fact that tonnes of trash littered the streets as a result of a garbage workers strike also in response to the pension reform plans, Le Parisien reported.

Rioters also set fire to barricades and clashed with police, who deployed water cannons and tear gas canisters in response.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin also asked for police to give extra protection to senators and MPs amid the growing anger among the populace. This was said to be a precaution.

While a national trade-union-organised protest against the government is planned for next Thursday, leftist activists are reportedly planning on staging blockades of key infrastructure throughout France in the meantime. Previously, radicals blocked off the entrances to ports and energy refineries in order to put pressure on the government.

According to the BFMTV broadcaster, riots were also witnessed in the city of Nantes, where some 3,500 people flooded out onto the streets. Again, protesters set fire to mounds of garbage that were piled up as a result of the strike. Radicals were also witnessed throwing Molotov cocktails and makeshift missiles at police officers.

Over a dozen storefronts were also damaged in the chaos. The same could be said in Marseille, where rioters smashed windows and painted the fronts of shops with graffiti, with banks and high-end clothing stores being the primary targets.

According to the broadcaster, radicals shouted: “fuck the bourgeoisie”, “we’re going to blow it all up”, “let’s burn everything”, and “Marseille stand up, get up!”

Meanwhile, in Lyon, hundreds also gathered in the city centre to protest the government, where they reportedly smashed the windows of the City Hall building before police used tear gas to disperse the crowds.

Despite the government bypassing the National Assembly on Thursday, opponents of the retirement age rise have not been completely defeated yet. On Friday, Marine Le Pen, the leader of the populist right-wing National Rally (RN) is expected to table a motion of no confidence, which is likely to receive the support of the far-left in parliament.

Should the measure be successful, it would likely force Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, the second-highest-ranking official in the government, to resign, and possibly force President Macron to dissolve parliament.

If the no-confidence vote fails, there is still the option of appealing for a national referendum to quash the legislation, meaning that the fight over the issue to raise the retirement age is likely to continue to rage for the foreseeable future.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka