The French state has mobilised all the
forces of crowd control at its disposal as clashes between police and
anti-government protesters turn ever more violent. In Paris, young
anti-capitalist protesters attacked banks, smashed windows of public
buildings, looted and burned vehicles in a show of anger against reforms
to the country’s pension system.
Police arrested hundreds of people after
these clashes which erupted when President Nicolas Sarkozy’s plans to
raise the age of retirement from 60 to 62 provoked outrage from the
country’s powerful unions. They are planning more peaceful but
potentially more damaging protests in the days ahead. A campaign of
strikes by truckers, rail workers and others is threatening to plunge
the French industry into further chaos in the coming days.
Lorry drivers have added their weight to
the industrial mayhem gripping France by slowing down motorway traffic
or by blocking key roads. Millions of people took to the streets in many
cities across the country in a show of anger against the reforms they
say unjustly penalise ordinary workers.
After days of trouble and rail
disruption, unions have tried to put pressure before the Senate met to
decide on the government’s unpopular pension reforms. However, the
Senate voted in favour of President Sarkozy’s controversial pension
reform bill.
The French unions show no signs of
giving up further industrial action and have challenged a back to work
order in court. Protests against the pension law have become the biggest
challenge for the French President Sarkozy so far. His credibility is
at stake on a reform he insists is essential to reduce France’s public
deficit.
______________________________________________ Written By: Ibrahim Nazim
24 October 2010, Sunday
16 Zulqaida 1431
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