The leader of La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, has assured that this Saturday 150,000 people have participated in the new demonstration held in Paris to protest against the pension reform project that includes a rise in the retirement age.
«150,000 people have gathered for the January 21 March in Paris. Congratulations to the youth organizations for having been able to mobilize so widely #PurOurPensions. We continue!» posted Mélenchon on Twitter.
The president of the union La Voz des Instituts, Colin Champion, has reproduced this same figure and highlighted the «great success» of the call.
The Police will not give official figures, but police sources quoted by the BFMTV channel point to about 12,000 people attending, since as a rule they do not give numbers when the call is from a political party. The demonstration is the initiative of a dozen youth associations, but La France Insoumise has been the one that has formally called.
Mélenchon has taken the floor at the end of the march to charge against the French president, Emmanuel Macron. «You have transformed into merchandise what was once selfless love, selflessness, human construction from generation to generation. This is what you want to do, Mr. Macron, damn you!» he charged.
«You want to turn our entire existence into a commodity as you have done with healthcare, as you are doing with education at the expense of this monstrous rudeness called Parcoursup. Down with Parcoursup!», he has added in reference to the application to apply for university access that aims according to the government to promote meritocracy.
Mélenchon has appealed to young people to defend the rights of workers and retirees in the same struggle. «Long live life! Down with death!» he has shouted.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of the main cities of France last Thursday, January 19, in a general strike to protest against the pension reform promoted by the government and which proposes, among other measures, to raise the retirement age to 64.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
