Students’ role in French protests shows depth of anger towards Macron

Mar. 28, 2023

Fury over policing tactics has changed dimension of protests against plan to raise retirement age

The depth of the domestic crisis facing Emmanuel Macron can be measured by the growing university barricades and packed student assemblies where angry young people have gathered in recent days to intensify protests and help teenage high-school pupils blockade their lycées.

As long as the country’s youth largely stayed away from the two months of trade-union-led street demonstrations and transport strikes against Macron’s plan to raise the pension age from 62 to 64, the government felt the protest movement would be manageable. But street demonstrations on Tuesday have shown how far anti-Macron feeling and anger at the use of constitutional executive powers to push through the pension changes without a parliamentary vote, have spurred growing numbers of young people to take part.

There is a particular fury among French youth at what is seen as the heavy-handed policing of demonstrations and clashes with riot police. More than 90,000 students intended to join street marches on Tuesday, three times more than were present last week.

Dozens of universities are barricaded, including many that do not usually experience that type of protest, such as in La Rochelle in western France. Teenagers piled up bins to blockade high schools in Paris and other cities. The presence of 17- and 18-year-olds complicates French policing tactics, already the subject of 17 investigations into alleged violence and malpractice in recent days.

Students say anger is rising. Some said they had managed to get through the Covid lockdowns, scrimping to get by, only to fear that the cherished social safety net of France’s welfare state and pensions system was being unpicked, threatening their future and that of their parents – all while the climate crisis was not being properly addressed.

“We always thought it was only by taking to the streets that we could wrestle social protections from the government and secure our social rights,” said Victor Mendez, a languages student at Nanterre University, outside Paris, who had sat in all the student assemblies.

“By combining a student strike with a general strike, we could go further than May 1968. This government is the government of the rich, the boss class, millionaires, it’s as simple as that.”

Macron’s difficulty is that he has not been able to provide an obvious roadmap out of this unusual situation, in which a law has been pushed through by government and yet protesters – far from giving up – are intensifying their demonstrations, which are broadening and appear open-ended.

Macron refuses to scrap his changes to the pension system; his credibility as a reformist depends on them. He appears to be hoping to play for time, assuming that the public will lose patience with the flaming rubbish bins and smashed shop windows that are increasingly evident on the edges of what until recent days have been peaceful demonstrations led by the trade unions.

Like the gilets jaunes anti-government protests of 2018 and 2019, anger is focused on Macron himself. Graffiti in Paris over the past days have read: “Death to the king” or “Macron resign”.

Even if Macron removed the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, and reshuffled the cabinet to try to move on – which he is not intending to do – it may be seen as short-term window-dressing.

The real problem for Macron, who was re-elected to a second term as president last spring against the far-right Marine Le Pen, is that his centrist grouping swiftly lost its absolute majority in June’s parliamentary elections amid gains by the far-right and the radical left.

This has left the government struggling to pass legislation without scrabbling together allies here and there, or using constitutional executive powers to avoid a parliament vote. The radical step of dissolving parliament and calling a snap general election is not a viable option because polling shows Macron’s centrists would fare even worse and lose seats, while Le Pen’s party would probably gain and the radical left would stay stable.

The crisis over pensions shows how difficult it will be for other legislation proposed by the government to pass.

Six years ago, Macron came to power as a young outsider promising to reconcile the French people. But confidence in politics is faltering. Trust in the system in France is at its lowest point since the gilets jaunes (yellow vests) anti-government protests, according to recent polling for the Sciences Po Cevipof political research centre. More than in Germany or Italy, French people view politics with mistrust and see politicians as “rather corrupt” or “serving their own interests”.

When Macron was re-elected last April, part of his vote came from people on the left who did not approve of him or his programme but wanted to keep out Le Pen. Macron acknowledged this and promised to do politics differently, with more consultation. But protesters do not see that happening.

Crucially this week, Macron’s domestic troubles have for the first time affected his international diplomatic agenda. The almost unprecedented decision to cancel the state visit of King Charles damaged French prestige, according to Le Monde. The rightwing Les Républicains said the last-minute cancellation gave a disconcerting impression of panic in a country imploding.

The symbolism of the visit may have been tricky – plans for a sumptuous dinner with the king at the Palace of Versailles were ridiculed by the left – but it was security and logistics that made the visit impossible. King Charles, keen to show his environmental credentials, was to take a train to Bordeaux, but transport strikes would have stopped him and demonstrators would have gathered.

France’s 65-year-old constitution concentrates power in the hands of the French president at the expense of MPs, allowing Macron to override a divided parliament in certain circumstances. Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s radical left, which has long argued for a new constitution to end the Fifth Republic and limit the powers of the president, is repeating those arguments, which have been seen on placards at demonstrations.

Macron’s approval ratings have dropped to 28%, the lowest since the gilets jaunes crisis. But he has said he accepts the “unpopularity” that comes with raising the pension age. He cannot run again for re-election as there is a limit on two consecutive terms. But as Le Pen’s party boasts its support is growing because of the pensions crisis, Macron’s centrist MPs hope that in the coming days, the prime minister, Borne, can provide a strategy on how France can be governed for Macron’s remaining four years.

[Top photo: Protests in Nantes, western France, against Macron's attempts to change the official retirement age. Photograph: Jeremías González/AP]