Violent pension reform protests in France led to the postponement on Friday of King Charles III’s trip to the country, highlighting the growing security and political problems facing President Emmanuel Macron.
France’s president condemned the latest violence overnight, while a human rights watchdog criticized the “excessive use of force” by police during recent demonstrations.
King Charles’ first foreign trip as king has been intended to highlight the strained French-British relationship. However, it has underlined the severity of the demonstrations that have gripped Britain’s neighbor just 10 months into Macron’s second term.
The uproar over legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 has ignited as Macron exercised controversial executive powers to push the plan through parliament without a vote last week.
With new attacks expected next Tuesday on the second day of the king’s tour, Macron has asked for the royal visit to be postponed, a British government spokesman said.
The decision was made “to welcome His Majesty King Charles III in circumstances that reflect our cordial relations”, Macron’s office said.
Police arrested more than 450 people on Thursday, according to interior ministry figures.
In addition, 441 members of the security forces were injured in the most violent day of protests since the beginning of the year.
More than 900 fires were lit around Paris, with anarchist groups blamed for burning uncollected rubbish and smashing shop windows, leading to clashes with riot police.
But human rights groups, judges and left-wing politicians have also disputed allegations of police brutality in recent years.
The Council of Europe – the continent’s main human rights watchdog – warned that sporadic acts of violence “cannot justify the excessive use of force by state agents” or “depriving peaceful protesters of their right to freedom of assembly”.
– More than a million –
More than a million people marched in France on Thursday, according to official estimates, as protest movements were revived by Macron’s refusal to step down over the past week.
In the northeastern city of Rennes, regional officials rejected claims by union leaders that police deliberately targeted them with tear gas and water cannon during Thursday’s protests.
In Bordeaux, protesters set fire to an ancient wooden door to the city hall on Thursday. King Charles is set to visit the southwestern city on Tuesday, after a day in Paris.
With protesters threatening to disrupt royal visits and the capital’s streets littered with garbage due to a strike by waste collectors, some feel the delay in the trip will avoid further embarrassment for France.
Speaking to reporters during a trip to Brussels on Friday, Macron said discussions on rescheduling the visit could take place in the coming months.
“We have proposed that at the beginning of the summer, depending on our agenda, we can organize a new country visit,” he said.
He also stressed that Paris “will not surrender to violence”.
“I condemn the violence and give my full support to the security forces who are working in a good way.”
How to get out?
It is unclear how the government will defuse the crisis that occurred just four years after “Yellow Vest” demonstrations rocked the country.
“It all depends on one person being a prisoner of the political situation,” political scientist Bastien Francois of the Sorbonne University in Paris told AFP.
The leader of the moderate CFDT union, Laurent Berger, said on Friday that he had spoken with the president’s assistant and proposed a pause in implementing the pension law for six months while opening channels for negotiations.
“This is the moment to say ‘listen, let’s rest, let’s wait six months’,” Berger told RTL radio. “It will calm down.”
While France’s Constitutional Court has yet to give the final word on the reforms, Macron said in a televised interview Wednesday that the changes should be “implemented by the end of the year”.
The blockade of oil refineries by striking workers continued on Friday, but the energy transition ministry said it had requested enough workers to restart production at one of them and resume fuel supplies to the capital.
About 15 percent of gas stations were still without at least one fuel as of Friday morning, according to an analysis of public data by AFP.
Several flights have been canceled until at least Wednesday at airports across the country due to strikes from air traffic controllers.
Police and protesters will face off again Saturday, and not only in the demonstration about pension reform.
In Saint Solines, central France, thousands of people are expected to protest against the deployment of new water storage infrastructure for agricultural irrigation, despite an official ban on the gathering.