May Day rallies call for wage increases as temporary EU-Mercosur deal takes effect.

On May Day, thousands of French people took to the streets to demand policies that support workers amid an economic context of growing uncertainty.

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The demonstrations took place on the same day a temporary agreement between the Common Market of the South and the European Union went into effect — an event that went relatively unnoticed.

Protesters focused their demands on calling for wage increases to cope with inflationary trends caused by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which already is taking a toll on European families’ finances.

Union forces also criticized a bill, pushed by the right and Macron’s centrists, to allow bakeries and flower shops to open on May 1 — a measure that goes against workers’ right to rest.

The text reads, “It’s happening in Paris. The police are attacking the union march. Just another May Day in Macron’s France”

Progressive social organizations attacked President Emmanuel Macron’s government for avoiding an extraordinary tax on large corporations benefiting from the effects of the war against Iran.

Among those companies is the oil firm TotalEnergies, which this week posted unprecedented profits driven by a rise in oil prices due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

In Paris, the march covered nearly 3 kilometers between the Republic Square and the Nation Square, where police tried to intimidate over 100,000 people. Security forces arrested four people in Lyon, where citizens clashed forcefully with police. Incidents were also reported in Nantes.

teleSUR/JF

Source: EFE

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