a dispute with many faces

Attempts to set fire to prefectures, stoning of parliamentary offices, blocking of communication axes and unauthorized demonstrations… The rejection of the two motions of censure on Monday March 20 did not calm people’s minds, as evidenced by the clashes between young people and police , the same evening around the Place de la Bastille in Paris.

“It was not going too badly before switching at the end of the evening with individuals who attacked the police, broke bus shelters and set fire to garbage cans”, summarizes Grégory Joron, national secretary of the SGP-police union.

“But it’s not just in Paris: we see the same actions in the provinces with outbreaks of fires, notes Axel Ronde, deputy secretary general of the CFTC-police. These are not just spontaneous gatherings but small groups of young people who organize themselves on social networks, even if it means aggregating other young people who are there. »

Only 2,000 to 3,000 young people with little politicization

The strategy is often well-oiled, which takes advantage of uncollected trash due to the garbage collectors’ strike. “They hide cans of gasoline in the garbage and, when the police arrive, a first empties the cans, and a second goes to light them”, describes the police unionist.

According to him, these groups represent only “2,000 to 3,000 young people”, “little politicized”, even if two youth leaders from La France insoumise are among those arrested Monday evening near the Bastille. “But their organization via loops on social networks makes them difficult to penetrate”, recognizes Axel Ronde who is worried about “the revolt of part of the youth” where, beyond the question of pensions, those purchasing power and the consequences of a Covid period under glass.

“We are very surprised by the extent of the mobilization in the small towns, and new members are flocking,” says Imane Ouelhadj, president of Unef. In Poitiers, Amiens, Le Havre, Dunkirk, the “AG” would have gathered more than 600 people, the use of 49.3 playing the amplifier of the movement.

A boil neither very visible nor very audible

For the moment, however, this boiling is neither very visible nor very audible. A very small handful of universities were blocked on Tuesday, and the anticipated baccalaureate specialty exams were able to be held calmly at the start of the week. “But the participation figures for the “GA” are high, never seen since 2009, during the mobilization against the law on university autonomy”, deciphers Vincent Tiberj, professor at Sciences Po, according to whom the fight would be “invisibilized” in the digital age.

For him, the blocking of the universities is no longer possible, because “university presidents, even before the holding of the general assembly, decide to close the university as a preventive measure and to switch to distance education. However, it is impossible to disrupt a video course. The mobilization of young people could take a more radical turn, but also remain without much real impact, “on the model of” Standing Night “at the time of the labor law”, imagines the researcher.

Could the anger that is expressed sporadically spill over into the union processions, at the risk of overflowing the security services? Last Saturday, the inter-union of Indre-et-Loire had organized a rally on the outskirts of Tours, but the operation was cut short. “Spontaneously, some, who did not all have union-coloured jumpers, stopped the cars and turned towards the dual carriageway to block traffic”, testifies Xavier Rahard, general secretary of the CFDT 37. motorists no longer came to see us, ”he says again, frustrated.

“Among many railway workers, we feel the will to carry out more punchy actions than simple “GA” followed by authorized demonstrations, recognizes for his part Fabien Dumas, federal secretary of Sud-rail. But there is no question of being violent or attacking our work tool. “While noting “nervousness” in his ranks after the “forced passage” of Emmanuel Macron, he also admits a certain weariness: “This strike is essentially based on a base of union activists. If we add the highlights from the beginning of the movement to the renewable strike since March 7, some have already lost more than two weeks of salary. »

A sustained protest in energy

In energy, on the other hand, the dispute is not weakening, electricians, gas and oil companies even boasting of occupying center stage. “No more drop of fuel comes out of refineries”, we say to the CGT Chemistry Federation when the government announced the first requisitions of personnel at the Fos-sur-Mer depot (Bouches-du-Rhône) , thus causing clashes with the demonstrators.

Other requisitions could be decided in the coming days, according to government spokesman Olivier Véran, which could raise tensions a little more, as in Le Havre, where dams around the industrial zone have been installed.

The situation in refineries – and in particular around Marseille – is nevertheless particular, in connection with the CGT congress which will open on Monday in Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme), during which Philippe Martinez must hand over . However, Olivier Mateu, the departmental secretary of Bouches-du-Rhône, supported by the toughest federations, such as energy or chemistry, appears to be the number one opponent internally, playing radicalism.

A demand for security against disorder

For union officials, these tussles do not threaten the inter-union. “Each keeps his personality but we remain united”, assures François Hommeril, president of the CFE-CGC, which brings together Wednesday March 22 and Thursday and 23 its congress in Tours (Indre-et-Loire). “We will do everything to contain the violence, but what is happening is the result of the government’s irresponsibility, which has not grasped any of the poles we have given it. I have people who are as happy as ever to have been taken for children: but the enthusiasm aroused by the social movement can turn into resignation as well as anger. »

According to the Cevipof barometer made public last week, enthusiasm has increased by seven points among the French, their serenity by 15 points and their well-being by 14 points. This assessment of their personal situation could be, according to researcher Bruno Cautrès, one of the explanations for the country’s lack of conflagration, for the moment: “We have climbed so far and so high in the social crisis with the vests yellow, that I am not sure that there is currently in the opinion the spring to want to live again the same situation”, he underlines.

The entry of part of the youth into the protest and possible overflows risk reviving the memory of 2019 and “reinforcing a demand for security and action against disorder”, anticipates Frédéric Dabi, director general. of Ifop.

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1,200 undeclared demonstrations

“More than 1,200” undeclared demonstrations have taken place across the country since Thursday March 16, date of the use of 49.3 to adopt the disputed pension reform, according to the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, Tuesday 21. 94 agents were injured.

287 people, including 234 in Paris, were arrested Monday, March 20 in the evening.

According to the latest consolidated report from the Paris prosecutor’s office, 425 people were taken into custody during the first three evenings of spontaneous demonstrations, from Thursday March 16 to Saturday March 19.

52 of them have been prosecuted at the end of their custody.

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