Numbers down but united: Yellow Vests join unions in pension reform protests

Yellow Vest protesters on Saturday joined trade unions in Paris to march against the government’s pension reforms in an unusual show of unity. Numbers were down but the grassroots movement and the main leftist union CGT said they remained united against overhaul. 

Jerome Rodrigues, one of the leading figures of the "yellow vests" (gilets jaunes) movement shows his eye after he was injured in the eyebrow after he was hit by the shield of an anti-riot policeman on 28 December, 2019. STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP

Videos posted to social media show makeshift barricades set alight near the Popmidou Centre in the heart of Paris, with CRS riot police intervening to tame the flames.

Hundreds of Yellow Vests left Place de la Bourse shortly after noon to join France’s CGT, FO, Solidaires and FSU trade unions leading a march towards Chatelet.

Police said around 4,500 protesters turned out, including around 800 Yellow Vests.

Prominent Yellow Vest figure Jérôme Rodrigues, who lost an eye during a rally in January, denounced police violence as he claimed to again have been injured by officers.

"What have I done to them? I advocate pacifism," he told Le Parisien newspaper.

Gare du Nord. La jonction s’opère entre Gilets Jaunes et syndicats !#Grève28Décembre #GiletsJaunes #Acte59 #Paris pic.twitter.com/f5XzuugNV6

  Gilets Jaunes Paris #Acte59 (@GiletsJaunesGo) December 28, 2019

Marches also took place in other regions, including Bayonne, Toulouse and Saint-Etienne.

Strikes roll on, trains stay put

Poised to enter its 25th day on Sunday, the nationwide strikes over proposed pension reforms are now the country’s longest in three decades.

• French strikes: heading for a repeat of 1995 nationwide shutdown?
• Can the unions force a government U-turn?

The longest transport shutdown, in 1986 and 1987, lasted for 28 days, also over Christmas. Unions, however, will be hoping to emulate the 21-day strikes of 1995, which forced the government to bury similar reform efforts.

Consultations between the government and union and employer organisations are set to resume on 7 January.