France: Rioters Outside Macron’s House After Forcing Through Retirement Age Increase Without Parliament Vote
March 17th, 2023Via: Daily Mail:
Rioters threatened the home of French president Emmanuel Macron after he bypassed parliament to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Thousands took to the streets across France last night to express their fury at the move, setting fires to property and fighting the police.
The demonstrations in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Nantes were triggered by Macron’s government using a controversial constitutional mechanism to crash a bill through the National Assembly.
The Senate adopted the bill on Thursday morning, but misgivings in the ruling party and reluctance by Right-wing opposition MPs to side with Macron meant the government risked losing a vote in the lower house. It instead chose to use article 49.3 of the constitution.
But the government now faces motions of no confidence as opposition politicians say France is on the edge of a ‘democratic breakdown’.
