In an earlier chapter, I said lunch in France is sacrosanct. It’s from noon to 2pm. Don’t even think of messing with it. Just as important to the French is retirement. Specifically at what age retirement begins. Here’s what happens if you suggest raising the age.
Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, wants to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 – akin to shortening lunch hour.
2023 had barely started when unions in France banded together for a day of solidarity. Two-million workers across the country stopped working. Eighty-thousand of them took to the streets in Paris – specifically, around major monuments. We live metres from Place de la Bastille. When we went for a morning walk, streets were already closed and crowds were gathering.
It wasn’t just prospective retirees who were gathering.
Parked a few blocks from every monument in Paris and in every city in France, convoys of riot-control vans.
That large truck on the far left in the photo above… It’s a water cannon. I’m not sure about France but in some countries the water is dyed – making it easier for police to make arrests.
Whether the water was dyed didn’t matter as the truck was not used. Everything was peaceful and the crowds seemed more interested in just being together and sending a message to Macron. It is a message that is going to be repeated. Another nation-wide strike is planned for the end of the month.
In the shot below, workers from the opera house close to us gathered at the front entrance. Most were smiling.
If the smiles disappeared, fully-suited riot police stood by.
It didn’t matter which street we chose during our walk, every single one of them had become a parking lot for the riot vans.
On one street, a non-stop parade. Blue lights flashing. Sirens blaring. I lost count after 50 had passed by. I don’t know where they were rushing to – I haven’t read any reports of violence.
While some were waiting – in full riot gear – just around the corner and out of sight of protestors, others were in plain view, keeping an eye out in both directions.
Anyone heading to Place de la Bastille (or Place de la Republique which had attracted even larger crowds) and was carrying a bag – from backpack to shopping bag – was searched.
But not us. Even with both of us carrying shopping bags, we were of no interest to the police. It was obvious to them we were well past retirement age and were not going to be demonstrating against an increase in age to 64. It was a bit of a blow to our vanity not to be stopped.