Strike of January 19: the full update on the mobilization in Occitania and France at midday
As the procession set off for Paris around 2 p.m., the crowds were very strong this Thursday, December 19 in the morning, in the provinces and in the region. At least 40,000 people marched in Toulouse, 15,000 in Montpellier and Perpignan, appearing to predict more than a million demonstrators nationally.
The united front wanted by the trade unions this Thursday, January 19 is there, in the street. On this day of national strike and demonstrations against the government’s pension reform project, which notably provides for the ratio of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64, the French are mobilizing massively everywhere in France.
“I think the million will be exceeded” prophesied Philippe Martinez. The national secretary of the CGT even announces a much larger mobilization than that of December 5, 2019, when a large union front called for a strike to protest against the pension reform of the government of Édouard Philippe.
Incidents in Rennes
In Paris, as the procession set off around 2 p.m. from Place de la République, it was still too early to estimate the number of participants, all under very high surveillance. The police had already carried out 2,300 checks and made 15 arrests, mainly for carrying a prohibited weapon, according to the police headquarters.
The first incidents broke out in Rennes, on the sidelines of the procession, where a Tesla brand car was burned and the beginnings of a confrontation with the CRS broke out.
Mobilization record in Toulouse
In the regions, the waves follow one another, indeed announcing a final national count which very certainly exceeds one million people: 13,000 in Rouen, 15,000 in Grenoble and Clermont-Ferrand, 14,000 in Tours and Pau, 20,000 in Caen, Nice and Lyon, more than 30,000 in Marseille…
Same mobilization in Occitania. At the beginning of the afternoon, the number of demonstrators appeared at least 40,000 people in Toulouse, 15,000 people in Montpellier, 5,000 in Béziers, 2,000 in Sète where Rolland, staff delegate and representative of the Force Ouvrière union, proclaimed his determination. “We are affected, even if we have a special port reform. Our early retirement will be postponed, and that is why we are mobilized.”
Nearly 20,000 in Perpignan
According to figures from L’Indépendant, nearly 12,000 people according to the prefecture and 20,000 according to the unions beat the pavement in Perpignan. In the Gard, 7,000 people marched in Alès, waiting for the demonstration in Nîmes this afternoon. 2500 also mobilized in Mende.
In National Education, the strike movement was followed by 34.66% of teachers in colleges and high schools, according to the ministry and 65% according to the unions. In primary education, the ministry advances a rate of 42.35% against 70% for the unions.
According to a poll conducted by the Elabe Institute for BFMTV, published on Wednesday January 18, 66% of French people say they are opposed to the government’s pension reform project. 37% even present themselves as “very opposed” to the measures presented by Elisabeth Borne.