Violent protests in France over Macron's retirement age push
Paris, Mar 18 (AP) Angry protesters took to the streets in Paris and other cities for a second day on Friday, trying to pressure lawmakers to bring down French President Emmanuel Macron's government and doom the unpopular retirement age increase he's trying to impose without a vote in the National Assembly.
A day after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne invoked a special constitutional power to skirt a vote in the chaotic lower chamber, lawmakers on the right and left filed no-confidence motions to be voted on Monday.
At the elegant Place de Concorde, a festive protest by several thousand, with chants, dancing and a huge bonfire, degenerated into a scene echoing the night before. Riot police charged and threw tear gas to empty the huge square across from the National Assembly after troublemakers climbed scaffolding on a renovation site, arming themselves with wood. They lobbed fireworks and paving stones at police in a standoff.
On Thursday night, security forces charged and used water cannons to evacuate the area, and small groups then set street fires in chic neighbourhoods nearby. French Interior Minister G rald Darmanin told radio station RTL that 310 people were arrested overnight, most of them in Paris.
Mostly small, scattered protests were held in cities around France, from a march in Bordeaux to a rally in Toulouse. Port officers in Calais temporarily stopped ferries from crossing the English Channel to Dover. Some university campuses in Paris were blocked and protesters occupied a high-traffic ring road around the French capital.
Paris garbage collectors extended their strike for a 12th day, with piles of foul-smelling rubbish growing daily in the French capital. Striking sanitation workers continued to block Europe's largest incineration site and two other sites that treat Paris garbage.
Some yellow vest activists, who mounted formidable protests against Macron's economic policies during his first term, were among those who relayed Friday's Paris protest on social media. Police say that "radicalised yellow vests" are among troublemakers at protest marches.
Trade unions organising the opposition urged demonstrators to remain peaceful during more strikes and marches in the days ahead. They have called on people to leave schools, factories, refineries and other workplaces to force Macron to abandon his plan to make the French to work two more years, until 64, before receiving a full pension.
Macron took a calculated risk ordering Borne to invoke a special constitutional power that she had used 10 times before without triggering such an outpouring of anger.
If the no-confidence votes fail, the bill becomes law. If a majority agrees, it would spell the end of the retirement reform plan and force the government to resign, although Macron could always reappoint Borne to name the new Cabinet.
"We are not going to stop," CGT union representative R gis Vieceli told The Associated Press on Friday. He said overwhelming the streets with discontent and refusing to continue working is "the only way that we will get them to back down."
Macron has made the proposed pension changes the key priority of his second term, arguing that reform is needed to make the French economy more competitive and to keep the pension system from diving into deficit. France, like many richer nations, faces lower birth rates and longer life expectancy.
Macron's conservative allies in the Senate passed the bill, but frantic counts of lower-house lawmakers Thursday showed a slight risk it would fall short of a majority, so Macron decided to invoke the constitution's Article 49-3 to bypass a vote.
Getting a no-confidence motion to pass will be challenging none have succeeded since 1962, and Macron's centrist alliance still has the most seats in the National Assembly. A minority of conservatives could stray from the Republican party line, but it remains to be seen whether they're willing to bring down Macron's government.
BREAKING: After French President Emmanuel Macron decided to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, the French took to the streets rioting and protesting to show their displeasure.
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) March 17, 2023
This also happens to be the Republican’s plan in the United States. They want to raise the age… https://t.co/pio5XNDHWH pic.twitter.com/txArOFVVN8
BREAKING: After French President Emmanuel Macron decided to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, the French took to the streets rioting and protesting to show their displeasure.
— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) March 17, 2023
This also happens to be the Republican’s plan in the United States. They want to raise the age… https://t.co/pio5XNDHWH pic.twitter.com/txArOFVVN8
Unions blocked the main Paris ring road as they stepped up protests against President Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age.
— The Times and The Sunday Times (@thetimes) March 17, 2023
🔗 Read more: https://t.co/5tKTQjn2so pic.twitter.com/QLXid0jQ90
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Jharkhand horror: Man kills live-in partner, chops body into 40 pieces
Ranchi (PTI): A 25-year-old man, who works as a butcher, allegedly strangled to death his live-in partner and chopped her body into 40 to 50 pieces in a forested area in Jharkhand’s Khunti district, police said on Wednesday.
The accused, identified as Naresh Bhengra, was arrested.
The matter came to light after around a fortnight after the killing when a stray dog was found with human body parts near Jordag village in Jariagarh police station on November 24.
Bhengra was in a live-in relationship with the deceased, a 24-year-old woman also from Khunti district, in Tamil Nadu for the past couple of years. Sometime back, he returned to Jharkhand, got married to another woman without telling his partner anything and went back to the southern state without his wife to join her.
"The brutal incident occurred on November 8 when they reached Khunti as the accused who had married another woman did not wish to take her home. Instead, he took her to a forest near his house at Jordag village in Jariagarh police station and chopped the body into pieces. The man has been arrested," Khunti Superintendent of Police Aman Kumar told PTI.
Inspector Ashok Singh who investigated the case said the man worked in a butcher shop in Tamil Nadu and was expert in slicing chicken.
“He admitted chopping the body parts of the woman into 40 to 50 pieces before leaving those in the forest for wild animals to feast on. The police recovered several parts on November 24 after a dog in the area was seen with a hand," Singh told PTI.
Singh said that the woman, who was unaware of his marriage, pressured him to return to Khunti. After reaching Ranchi, they boarded a train on November 24 and headed to the man's village.
"Under a plan, the man took her to Khunti in an autorickshaw near his home and asked her to wait. He returned with sharp weapons and strangulated her with her dupatta after raping her. He then cut the body into 40 to 50 pieces and left for his home to live with his wife," Singh said.
The woman, however, had informed her mother that she had boarded a train and would be living with her partner, the police officer said.
Following the recovery of body parts, a bag was also found in the forest with the murdered woman's belongings including her Aadhaar card. The mother of the woman was called at the spot and she identified her daughter's belongings.
"The mother suspected the man behind the crime who after being nabbed by the police admitted to chopping the woman into pieces," the official added.
The incident has sent shockwaves among people in the region, with the Shraddha Walker murder case of 2022 still fresh in their memory.
Walker was killed by her live-in partner who chopped her body into pieces before dumping them in the jungle in South Delhi’s Mehrauli.
