61 people arrested on the second day of riots in Paris in protest of the pension reform

The police agents have carried out the arrests after setting fire to and damaging public furniture and after confronting the security forces, as detailed in a report by the Paris Police headquarters and has been collected by the BFTM chain.

Thousands of people have gathered for the second consecutive night in the Place de la Concorde in Paris, a few steps from the French Parliament, to denounce the “forced passage” of the Executive when making use of article 49.3 of the Constitution for the reform of pensions, which had not obtained the support of the National Assembly for it to go ahead.

The Police have had to directly confront the most radical elements of the protests with the help of tear gas. Shortly after 10:00 p.m., the policemen made the last arrests and pushed the last demonstrators towards the subway to evacuate the place.

The protests take place one day after the French government decided to use article 49.3 of the Constitution, which avoids submitting the pension reform to a vote in the French National Assembly, after verifying that it lacked a sufficient majority to move forward one of the star projects of the president, Emmanuel Macron.

The French prime minister defended during an interview with the TF1 chain on Thursday the application of article 49.3 of the Constitution, assuring that they have worked “until the last minute” to obtain a majority on the pension reform.

Likewise, he acknowledged that he understands “the great effort” that the French will have to make to work “for two more years”, although he has expressed that “letting people believe that we can pay everything with debt is not serious.”

Borne also commented on the boos, shouts of resignation and chants from the opposition experienced during Thursday’s day in a tense session in the National Assembly. “That reflects that a certain number of opposition groups do not respect our institutions. Some want chaos », he sentenced.

Meanwhile, the main unions in France have announced a large day of demonstrations for next Thursday, March 23 to demand the total withdrawal of the reform.