Skip to Content

Peaceful mass demonstration against pension reform in Paris on January 19. 2023. Twitter
Paris

French pension reform: 150 000 young demonstrators according to organisers

Some 150 000 students marched in Paris on January 21 against pension reform, according to the youth organisations that initiated the demonstration, but only 14 000 according to sources close to the Macron administration.

Published: January 23, 2023, 8:19 am

    Read more

    Two days after the day of protest against pension reform called by the unions, it was the turn of youth organisations to march in the capital on Saturday. “We are 150 000. The #March21January is a huge success,” wrote Colin Champion, president of the union La Voix Lycéenne, on Twitter, while L’Alternative, another student union, hailed “a very massive mobilisation at the call of the youth”.

    This figure was also taken up by La France insoumise (LFI), a supporter of the demonstration, and other youth movements within the parties present in the march. Jean Luc Mélenchon criticised the Occurrence tally. According to Occurrence carried out for a group of media, including AFP, the procession was made up of only 14 000 people between the Place de la Bastille and the Place de la Nation.

    This figure was strongly criticised by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, who was present at the demonstration. The rebel accused Occurrence on Twitter of being a “manipulative Macronist agency”.

    A police source estimated the attendance at 12 000. These estimates are far from those of the January 19 mobilisation. Between one and two million people had demonstrated throughout France, depending on the estimates of the police or those of the CGT, during this first big day of mobilisation against Macron’s pension reform.

    However, the objective of the march on January 21 was to obtain a mobilisation at least equal to that of the “march against the high cost of living” organised by the rebels last October, which had attracted 140 000 participants according to the organisers, and 30 000 according to the police. The draft law on pensions includes the extension of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years, and is to be presented on January 23 in the Council of Ministers.

    Trade union march a huge success

    The eight main trade unions have meanwhile agreed on a new day of strikes and demonstrations against pension reform on January 31.

    The representatives of the unions met in the late afternoon of January 19 at the headquarters of Solidaires, after a day of strikes and demonstrations that brought together 1,12 million according to the Ministry of the Interior and more than two million according to the secretary general of the CGT.

    This is a level of mobilization higher than that of December 5, 2019. At the start of the protest against the previous draft pension reform, the police had counted 806 000 demonstrators in France, the CGT 1.5 million.

    President Macron, PM slipping in the polls

    According to an Ifop poll the president of the Republic and his prime minister have seen their popularity ratings drop by 2 and 4 points respectively as the government tries to defend its pension reform.

    The popularity ratings of Emmanuel Macron and Elisabeth Borne fell by 2 and 4 points respectively in January, against the backdrop of pension reform, according to the poll for the Journal du dimanche (JDD) published on 22 January, with only 34 percent of the respondents saying they were satisfied with the action of the head of state.

    According to this monthly barometer, this is a decline of seven points in total since his re-election last April. It is also the lowest level for Emmanuel Macron since February 2020, on the eve of the Covid-19 crisis, and again in a tense context of pension reform.

    Elisabeth Borne’s rating has fell to 32 percent of favorable opinions, its worst result since her accession to Matignon. The Prime Minister presented the government’s pension reform project on January 10, which she must have adopted on 23 January in the Council of Ministers before its arrival in Parliament at the end of the month.

    The text includes a postponement of the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years. This reform project has already been strongly contested, both by the opposition and by the unions, which organised a hugely successful day of action on January 19.

    The survey was conducted online and by telephone, from 12 to 19 January, among a sample of 1 963 people representative of the French population aged 18 and over, according to the quota method, with a margin of error of between 1 and 2,3 points.

    Consider donating to support our work

    Help us to produce more articles like this. FreeWestMedia is depending on donations from our readers to keep going. With your help, we expose the mainstream fake news agenda.

    Keep ​your language polite​. Readers from many different countries visit and contribute to Free West Media and we must therefore obey the rules in​,​ for example​, ​Germany. Illegal content will be deleted.

    If you have been approved to post comments without preview from FWM, you are responsible for violation​s​ of​ any​ law. This means that FWM may be forced to cooperate with authorities in a possible crime investigation.

    If your comments are subject to preview ​by FWM, please be patient. We continually review comments but depending on the time of day it can take up to several hours before your comment is reviewed.

    We reserve the right to del​ete​ comments that are offensive, contain slander or foul language, or are irrelevant to the discussion.

    Europe

    Thousands of Flemish farmers block roads in Brussels against nitrogen policy

    BrusselsMore than 2500 farmers from Belgium's Dutch-speaking Flanders region gathered at Brussels' central Arts-Loi street and blocked roads with tractors toward Brussels to protest the regional government's plan to limit nitrogen emissions.

    Orban: EU energy sanctions costing citizens billions

    BudapestHungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has warned that some western states could soon send troops to Ukraine. He also criticized the fact that the EU sanctions against Russia had cost Hungarian taxpayers tens of billions of euros.

    Italy: New leader of the Social Democrats is one of Soros’ ‘preferred politicians’

    RomeDuring the election campaign, Elly Schlein presented herself as the standard-bearer of the poorest. However, her background and previous work raise doubts about her honesty.

    UK greenhouses shut down due to high energy costs

    LondonIn Great Britain, a particularly depressing facet of the crisis is now showing its first contours - and thus anticipating what is likely to happen in other European countries in the near future: because of the exploding energy prices, agriculture is being strangled and fresh produce has to be rationed.

    Lisbon opens borders to all Portuguese speakers

    LisbonNot only the German and Italian governments keep opening new paths for immigration. Portugal, too, has opened a Pandora's box and is paving the way for possibly millions of non-European immigrants to the EU – something which is not mentioned by the mainstream media.

    Illegal immigration to Italy has reached its highest level ever

    RomeIn Italy, despite the overwhelming right-wing electoral success in September, there is still nothing to be seen of the promised asylum turnaround – on the contrary. Giorgia Meloni has been in office for five months, but the arrivals of migrants in Italy have doubled compared to the previous year.

    Dismantling diplomacy with ‘feminist foreign policy’

    BudapestGerman Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) wants to counter German security issues abroad with feminist politics. Gender training, LGBTQ events and quotas are now part of their new guidelines, which are intended to bring about "cultural change". The German ambassador to Hungary, Julia Gross, provided an embarrassing example.

    Germans demand investigation of Nord Stream sabotage

    BerlinAfter the sensational revelations by US investigative reporter Seymour Hersh about the perpetrators of the Nord Stream attacks on September 26, 2022, the German government has remained silent. It does not want to comment on Hersh's research results, according to which the pipelines were blown up by Americans and Norwegians.

    Macron mulling withdrawal of Putin’s Legion of Honour award

    ParisAt the end of Jacques Chirac's term in 2007, France and Russia still maintained cordial relations. During his speech at a tripartite summit, the French president had even mentioned bilateral relations that were "excellent in all respects, particularly in the fields of energy, infrastructure and aeronautics".

    UN dossier sounds the alarm : ISIS cells eye Balkan route

    New YorkThe risk that terrorists could reach the Mediterranean coasts is growing. A UN dossier has warned that jihadists have been crossing the Balkans in attempts to reach the EU.

    Go to archive