- The Guardian Monday 2 May 2022
18Listen to citizens, May Day marchers
tell Macron as his second term begins
Angelique Chrisafi s
Paris
Tens of thousands of people took
part in street demonstrations across
France yesterday, as Labour Day
marches were styled as a “message”
to Emmanuel Macron that he must
consult citizens more during his sec-
ond term as president, and reverse
plans to raise the retirement age, or
face protests.
“There will be a fi ght over pen-
sions, that’s clear – battle has been
declared,” said the leftwing CGT trade
union in Toulouse.
Trade unionists, environmental-
ists and parties on the left – as well
as yellow-vest anti-government pro-
test ers – marched in cities around
the country , demanding a rise in
pensions and salaries and an end to
Macron’s plan to gradually raise the
pension age to 65.
The government said that 45
arrests had been made on the edge
of the peaceful march in Paris, after
a small group of people dressed in
black, described as “black bloc”
anarchists, smashed the windows of
businesses, including a McDonald’s,
attacked cash dispensers and set bins
alight. Police fi red teargas and one
woman was arrested for attacking a
fi refi ghter as he put out a fi re. Eight
police offi cers were injured.
The centrist Macron, who was re-
elected last weekend with 58.5%
of the vote against the far-right
Marine Le Pen , is under pressure
to move away from top-down deci-
sion-making to a more participative,
decentralised approach.new prime minister, who will have
expanded powers overseeing envi-
ronmental policy. Some are hoping it
will be a woman with a background
on the left.
Macron has spent recent days
still in campaign mode, wading into
crowds in town squares to listen to
voters , sometimes for hours at a time,
to counter his image as haughty and
aloof and to show he has understood
the cost of living crisis, which is vot-
ers’ number one concern.
This is seen as crucial if he is to
secure a broad centrist majority in
the parliamentary elections in June,
which would give him a free hand to
implement his policies of overhaul-
ing the welfare state and pensions
system. The parliament vote has
been seized on by both Le Pen and the
radical left’s Jean-Luc Mélenchon ,
who are seeking to greatly increase
their seats in a France where voters
are divided and disappointed with
politics.
“What we have seen is an
extremely strong break between the
base of the social pyramid – those
who don’t have riches or power or
infl uence – and the so-called sum-
mit,” said François Bayrou, the▲ A demonstrator holds a placard
reading ‘Empty fridge! 5 more years! ’“This is a very political May Day,
where workers intend to weigh heav-
ily on all the big issues,” said Benoît
Teste, head of the FSU teachers’
union. “It’s a crucial moment to feel
the mood on the ground .”
“I want to calm things,” Macron
had told locals in a walkabout in
south-west France on Friday, after
vowing to take into account everyone
who voted for him, including those
on the left who chose him only to
keep out Le Pen. But no details have
fi ltered out on how Macron would
consult with citizens or whether he
will undertake a reform of France’s
political system, including intro-
ducing an element of proportional
representation in parliament.
With his second term beginning
offi cially on 14 May, Macron is delib-
erating over the appointment of the