Pots and lids concerts beaten with ladles and wooden spoons. The electric current cut in places where the President of the Republic is expected to visit. Sudden blitzes and wilds of protesters in places that symbolize power and the capitalist system. In France the protests against the pension reform do not stop and, on the contrary, they are taking on more creative forms every day and capable of uniting different segments of the population across the board. And so Emmanuel Macron, on tour in the country to attempt the now impossible feat of being seen closer to the citizens, finds himself being pursued by continuous protests. With the result that, every day, one of the new forms of protest that the protesters have invented goes viral online.
Another day of humiliation for Macron forced to talk outside following the power cut at the college in Granges in the Hérault #ReformeDesRetraites pic.twitter.com/cSMlceFlX9
— Current Reality (@ReaActuelle) April 20, 2023
The episodes are now daily. On April 20, the President of the Republic presented himself to Gangesin Occitania, to participate in a panel discussion within a school to talk about teacher salaries. Too bad that, upon arrival, the electricity went out. “He is a man who walks alone, now he walks in the dark”, the local secretary of the CGT union told Sud Radio Serge Ragazzicci claiming the action. Result: the meeting was moved to the courtyard of the institute and the photo of Macron forced to stand outdoors by protesters has become among the most shared in a matter of minutes. But it wasn’t even the only scene that sparked hilarity on the net: among the most clicked there is certainly the video of the gendarmes who searched the militants who arrived to challenge the president and they confiscated pots and lids. “It’s an order from the prefecture”, one of the officers justified himself as he asked a boy to leave a small saucepan in the car. Meanwhile, the President of the Republic had himself immortalized while declaring: “In my house, pans are used to cook food”. But the joke didn’t have the desired effect. The video of him did not go better while, flaunting nonchalance (complete with rolled up shirt sleeves) he talks in the school courtyard alongside two very young students with impassive and very serious faces: “We are close to you”, they tweeted by the dozens. “Hold on”. Macron, in that round table, promised a salary increase for teachers, but even then the message did not leave a great impression.
????????????Police confiscate pans from protesters in Granges ???????????????? pic.twitter.com/a6RcfTIzfY
— Whistleblower???? (@Alainklain2) April 20, 2023
Scenes of similar protests had occurred less than 24 hours earlier: on 19 April Macron visited a timber factory in Alsace and the power was cut shortly before his arrival and reconnected shortly after his departure. “The visit was not particularly disturbed by the incident,” government sources said. But meanwhile photos and videos were already everywhere. Also because her turn in the crowd was no longer lucky: “Let me shake your hand”, began a gentleman approaching Macron with a provocative air, “to the shittiest president of the Fifth Republic”. And another, shortly after, stopped him only to say: “I want to see the president of this corrupt government.” All immortalized by the cameras and immediately shared.
Then, the spontaneous protests of a few people are joined the wild blitzes with targeted goals. The latest on April 20: a group of protesters broke into the headquarters of the stock exchange Paris with tear gas and flags. An action aimed at hitting the symbols of economic power and reiterating that the protest goes beyond the pension reform. Indeed, he calls for radical changes to the system. It wasn’t the first time. Precisely in conjunction with the last two general strikes, groups of militants first raided the site of the investment fund BlackRock and then in the headquarters of the luxury giant louis vuitton. Still in the capital. Gestures also in line with what the more radical fringes do during demonstrations: the windows of banks, insurance companies and shops linked to multinational brands are affected. A targeted choice that rarely sees exceptions.
Thus, while at the official level unions and associations are preparing for the “exceptional mobilization” on May 1st, actions continue on the territory and throughout the country. “They can’t go anywhere anymore,” protesters write online. “Macron cannot decide only one thing: when we will stop protesting”. The “casserolade”, or the concert of “casserole” (pots and pans) is just one of the latest initiatives and has been borrowed from dozens of protests from the past. The idea returned on Monday 17 April when, while Macron was speaking to the nation, an appeal was launched to go to the Municipalities at the same time to make noise. And since then the pans have never been abandoned. Meanwhile the principals are continuous and different. Among those involved in the front line, for example, there is the ATTAC association which has been working for years for fiscal, social and ecological justice: it has created a map that updates in real time. Just go online and you will find all the daily protests, but above all the movements of government officials are reported. Because the spirit now is to make one’s voice heard on every possible occasion. Especially the more supervised ones. And even the premier is well aware of it Elisabeth Borne: on April 19 he presided over a meeting with some carefully selected young people in Matignon. A review already planned and tested, which he shouldn’t have contemplated unscheduled. And instead, a 21-year-old student, surprisingly, took the microphone: “We abstained in the presidential elections so as not to have to choose between the plague and cholera,” she said, staring at an incredulous Borne. “If we really are the priority, leave us the place. I am 21 and you are three times as old, you have had 41 years to understand and to learn to listen”. In short, the message is clear: for the moment, no space for protest is left empty. Whether Macron likes it or not.