Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
While the government was keen to show the repercussions of the protests that took place in the country last month due to the retirement law, the opposition was keen to confirm the inability of the presidency to organize a referendum on this matter, due to the fear of the people.
For his part, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin announced today, Sunday, that more than a thousand police, gendarmerie and firefighters were injured in the past two weeks during the protests in the country against the pension reform law.
"Since March 16, 1093 police and firefighters have been injured," Darmanin said in press statements this morning, pointing to the outbreak of 2,579 deliberate fires and 316 attacks on public buildings.
He stressed that "when acts of violence, vandalism, and the extreme left mix, it is the duty of the police to stop it," adding that he refuses to surrender to the intellectual terrorism pursued by the extreme left, which is the overturning of values, "as the vandals become the ones who are attacked and the police are the aggressors."
According to the Minister of the Interior, "36 judicial investigations" have been opened since the start of the mobilization and mobilization of the demonstrations, and at a time when accusations against "police violence" are increasing during demonstrations against the retirement law, Darmanin confirmed that those who do not maintain the honor of their military uniform will be punished, indicating that in 2021 In 2020, 111 police and gendarmerie and "101" security personnel were punished for "improper use of force".
But at the same time he expressed his support for the security forces who confronted the violence of some of the demonstrators, pointing in this regard to the acts of violence that occurred during the demonstrations of “Saint-Sollen (western France), saying: “In Saint-Sollen, as is the case in some sudden demonstrations that were not authorized In advance, it was not about maintaining order, it was a guerrilla war."
He referred to the establishment of a "crisis cell of specialized lawyers within the Ministry of the Interior, which will begin its work on the first of September, and as for the concerns expressed by the Special Rapporteur of the United Nations and the Council of Europe about the way force is used in France.
Darmanin explained that he listens to criticism but at the same time urges those who criticize, instead of commenting on videos that come from New York or Brussels, to come to the battlefield. On the other hand, the minister stressed the importance of the immigration law that he presented, but it was postponed at the present time because Having a majority to vote on.
For her part, Marine Le Pen, leader of the "National Rally" party in the National Assembly (the second chamber of the French parliament), confirmed that French President Emmanuel Macron will not hold a referendum on the pension reform law because he is "afraid of the people."
Le Pen, who leads the far-right "National Rally" deputies in the House of Representatives, had called for a referendum on this reform to be adopted, denouncing the "toxic relationship" pursued by the French president with the French, saying, "It makes us confront each other, which leads to an exacerbation of tensions." She also called for the dissolution of the National Assembly after using Article 49.3 and rejecting a motion of no confidence in the government.
And Le Pen announced - in Saturday's statements - her refusal to be prime minister in the event of the dissolution of the National Assembly and her party's victory in the early legislative elections, stressing her desire to devote herself to running for the 2027 presidential elections.
It is clear that her far-right party, backed by positive opinion polls, is the political force that benefits the most from the political and social crisis the country is currently witnessing.
"If the National Assembly is dissolved, I think we can form a majority, after which there will be a prime minister from the National Assembly at the head of a team composed of political forces that wish to participate in a national unity government," she said.
And she confirmed her desire to run again for the elections in 2027, saying, "I plan to be president of the republic in 2027," noting that if she reaches the Elysee Palace, she will reconsider Emmanuel Macron's retirement bill and raise the legal age to 64 years.
During the 2022 presidential campaign, Marine Le Pen advocated keeping the retirement age at 62, but wants to allow French people who entered the labor market before the age of 20 to retire at 60 if they have contributed at least 40 years to work.
Source: agencies