King Charles puts off going to France because of Macron’s political problems
PARIS: King Charles III had to cancel his trip to France on Friday. It is because of violent protests against pension reform in the country. This shows that President Emmanuel Macron is facing more and more security and political problems.
The trip of King Charles III to France was put off Friday because of violent protests against pension reform. This shows that President Emmanuel Macron is having more and more security and political problems.
Charles’s first trip abroad as king was supposed to show how relations between Britain and France are getting better. However, it has instead shown how bad the protests are in Britain’s neighbor, France.
When did Macron ask for the delay?
Macron asked for the delay during talks on Friday morning, a spokesperson for the UK government said. The change was blamed on a call for more strikes on the second day of the king’s tour.
The decision to put it off was made “so that His Majesty King Charles III can be welcomed in a way. It shows how friendly our relationship is,” Macron’s office said in a statement. According to figures from the interior ministry, more than 450 people were arrested on Thursday, and 441 members of the security forces were hurt. This was the most violent day of protests against Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age to 64 at the beginning of the year.
Radical anarchist groups were blamed for setting fire to trash that hadn’t been picked up and breaking shop windows. It is which led to many fights with riot police. More than 900 fires were also started in Paris.
Rennes, Nantes, and Toulouse, there were also fights:
In the southwest of Bordeaux, protesters set fire to the old wooden entrance to the city hall. However, in Rennes, Nantes, and Toulouse, there were also fights. Charles III was supposed to go to the Bordeaux city hall on Tuesday. He was supposed to spend Monday in Paris. It was where he was to speak to the Senate and attend a state banquet at the Palace of Versailles.
Some Parisians thought that canceling the royal visit would save France from more embarrassment. It was since trash collectors were on strike and protesters were planning to disrupt the royal visit. “It would be smarter for him to come in a little while so we don’t have a disaster,” Annick Siguret, a retiree in her 60s, told AFP near a bank that had been broken into and trash cans that were overflowing in the ninth district of the capital.
What Macron told reporters Friday while he was in Brussels:
On Wednesday, Charles is supposed to go to Germany. It is the second stop on his tour of Europe. More than a million people marched in France on Thursday. Macron’s actions and words over the past week have given the protest movement a new boost. Macron pushed a bill to change the retirement age through parliament without a vote last week, which caused a big stir. This is the president’s second big domestic problem in just 10 months of his second term.
Macron told reporters Friday while he was in Brussels, “I condemn the violence and offer my full support to the security forces, who did a great job”. Gerald Darmanin, the Interior Minister, is a hardliner in the centrist government. Political opponents and protesters asked him to drop the plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. However, he said no.
He told CNews, “I don’t think we should get rid of this law because of violence”.
Macron’s decision to force the law through parliament and his refusal to back down in a TV interview on Wednesday seemed to have energized many opponents on Thursday. During the protests, a 21-year-old student named Judicael Juge told AFP, “There’s the main issue, which is the reform of the pension system, and then there’s the other issue, which is how democracy works.” “I think that makes me angry more now”.
Trash:
Just four years after the “Yellow Vest” anti-government protests shook the country, people are wondering how the crisis will end. No one knows how to get out of the situation. “Everything is up to one man, who is a prisoner of the political situation.”
Laurent Berger, the leader of the moderate CFDT union, said on Friday that he talked to an aide to the president and asked that the pensions law be put on hold for six months.
Berger told RTL radio, “Now is the time to say, ‘Listen, let’s put things on hold for six months”. “It would calm down the situation”. Pile after pile of trash that had been partially burned covered the streets of Paris on Friday. At the same time, striking workers are starting to blockade oil refineries. It is starting to cause fuel shortages all over the country.
Thursday, the ministry of energy transition said that there was a “critical” lack of kerosene in the capital and at its airports. This weekend, we see more cancellations of flights at airports across the country. The air traffic controllers were on strike.
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