Emmanuel Macron was greeted with the sounds of pots and pans, and jeers as protesters gathered in Alsace on Wednesday to hound the embattled French president as he made his first public outing since signing his controversial pension reforms into law.
During an attempt to show that he was not cowering behind the walls of the Élysée Palace, President Macron was met in turn with continued rage from the French public, who have been suffering under a cost of living crisis spurred in large part by coronavirus lockdowns — of which Macron was a champion — and the war in Ukraine, which the French leader has actively sought to continue through the shipment of French arms into the region.
The protests in the small town were organised by the CGT and CFDT unions. Yet, the unruly scenes surrounding Macron were likely calmer than they would have otherwise been, given that officers of the gendarmerie forcibly cleared many protesters from the scene prior to his arrival.
Macron, for his part, described the protests as “bitching” and implied he had become used to it.
French gendarmes evacuate demonstrators during a protest against a visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Mathis, a company specialised in large wooden buildings, in Muttersholtz, eastern France (Photo by FREDERICK FLORIN/AFP via Getty Images)
While trying to plead his case in the commune of Sélestat in Bas-Rhin, the president was at times drowned out by shouts, calls for him to resign, and the banging of pots and pans — a popular form of protest in France dating back to the 1830s during the early years of the July Monarchy of King Louis Philippe I following the Bourbon Restoration.
Acknowledging the unrest, Macron quipped: “It is not the pans that will move France forward. We can massively revive the pan industry… but what interests me is to live better, build the future of our children. I don’t have the right to stop.”
“What interests me is to be able to exchange with you about the difficulties of the moment, the cost of living and rising prices, many topics that will animate the economic and social agenda of the coming months,” he added.
The French president has argued that the increase in the state retirement age from 62 to 64 years old is a necessary reform in order to keep the generous welfare programme from becoming insolvent.
His opponents, which include populists on both the left and right of the political spectrum, have chastised the move as undemocratic and have taken it as confirmation of his neo-liberal government’s contempt for the working-class people of France.
When confronted by the secretary general UNSA Grand-Est trade union, Chloe Bourguignon about the apparent outrage from the citizenry against his administration, Macron bluntly responded: “This isn’t the first time I’ve heard people bitching at me.”
Macron faired better in Alsace than during previous interactions with the public, however, as he was previously slapped in the face by a young man during a walkabout in the commune of Tain-l’Hermitage in 2021, and had tomatoes thrown at him in his first public appearance following his re-election last year.
Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka
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