The smoke of burning buildings, trash and even one unfortunate police officer perfumed the air on May Day in France. It’s officially springtime in Paris, but whether the promise of a new harvest will bear any ripe fruit for President Emmanuel Macron remains doubtful as the revolt against his neo-liberal regime continues to rage.
As people across Europe danced around the Maypole to mark the coming of Spring after another harsh winter mired by economic deprivation, the people of France did their own form of traditional dance, that of rioting against an out-of-touch government behind the walls of a palace.
A protestor throws a tear gas canister during a demonstration against pension reform on Boulevard Voltaire in central Paris, France, on Monday, May 1, 2023. Photographer: Nathan Laine/Bloomberg via Getty Images
While it isn’t at all uncommon for French radicals to riot on the First of May, which also marks the socialist International Workers’ Day, the scale of the protests across the country demonstrates the continued anger among the people at the government of Emmanuel Macron. The President, who rather than focussing on how to solve the inflation, energy, and general cost of living crises facing the people chose to use considerable political capital to pass an increase to the pension age without a vote, is broadly seen as being guilty of an undemocratic attack on the working class by the ruling elite class to which Macron belongs.
PARIS, FRANCE – 2023/05/01: (EDITORS NOTE: Image contains profanity) A protester with an Emmanuel Macron mask makes a hand gesture while waiting for the rally to start. (Photo by Andy Barton/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Compared to last year, when just 116,500 citizens marched throughout France on May Day, official Ministry of Interior figures estimate that some 782,000 poured out onto the streets on Monday, with some 112,000 in Paris, alone. The numbers are a clear sign that the protests against Macron do not appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, despite the ‘Jupiterean’ leader’s pleas to the public to give him 100 days to turn around the ship — to which the unions in return promised “100 days of anger”.
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