Clashes between left-wing forces mark demonstrations in France
Clashes between leaders of various left-wing forces marked the first May Day trade union demonstrations in France, with isolated altercations in some cities and various demands, against the reform of unemployment insurance or for wage increases.
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Mundo 1.º de Maio
While the large, unified parade organized in Paris from 2:00 p.m. local time was awaited, news of the parades held in the morning in other French cities was marked above all by the frustrated participation of the Socialist candidate in the European elections in June, Raphael Glucksmann, in Saint Étienne, a city 60 kilometers southeast of Lyon.
Glucksmann had to abandon the demonstration when his entourage was met with insults and paint thrown by about 50 people, apparently young communist or far-left activists, according to the Efe news agency.
The Socialist candidate complained that "these attacks are the result of months of hatred and slander well orchestrated by rebels and others," referring to the friction and increased tension in recent weeks between his candidacy, which leads those of the left in the polls (attributing between 12% and 14% of the votes in recent weeks) and La Francia Insumisa (LFI, about 8%), the party of Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Mélenchon himself reacted to the attack and said on his social network account X that he "totally" disapproved of this action which, in his opinion, "offers a media diversion against May 1 and a victim role for Glucksmann, who takes advantage of it to accuse" the LFI candidacy.
In addition to these events, the celebration of May 1 - International Workers' Day in France has been marked by incidents that occurred in the Lyon demonstration, where at least 17 people were arrested for altercations initiated by groups of rioters who vandalized commercial establishments in the city center, especially bank branches, and street furniture.
The police forces responded with tear gas and charges against the violent demonstrators, who in turn launched fireworks with mortars.
The mayor of Lyon, environmentalist Grégory Doucet, was also reprimanded by some demonstrators who demanded that he raise the Palestinian flag.
In Paris, before the start of the demonstration, the police indicated that 15 people had been arrested in the previous checks carried out on 478 people, in particular for the search for weapons.
More than 250 demonstrations were called by unions in France to celebrate May 1, in which the police expected a total of less than 150,000 demonstrators.
This forecast is far from the almost 800,000 that were counted in 2023 -- the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) counted 2.3 million people -- when May 1 was one of the last protests against the pension reform of the Emmanuel Macron government, which delayed the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
This year, the unions mobilized with much more dispersed demands, although there are some that continue to unite them, namely the opposition to the reform of unemployment insurance that Macron's executive is promoting and the demand for wage increases.
Speaking to the media before the parade in Paris, CGT general secretary Sophie Binet also denounced the "penalization of union action" of which, in her opinion, many members of the confederation are victims.
Binet explained that there are "more than 1,000 CGT activists" who are being prosecuted "for their union activity," a "very serious" situation considering that "all the social rights that exist today were achieved thanks to the union struggle."
Also Read: May 1: Parades marked by detainees and injuries around the world (Portuguese version)
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