Tehran Urges France to Listen to Protesters

Date: 03 May 2023 - 23:17

News ID: ۱۱۴۶۵۵

TEHRAN -- The Iranian foreign ministry spokesman has admonished French police for using violence against protesters in the international Labor Day rallies, calling on President Emmanuel Macron’s government to listen to dissident voices.

Nasser Kanaani made the remarks in a Persian-language post on his Twitter account after riot police in France fired tear gas to disperse protesters in the capital Paris and other major cities on the first day of May as public anger rages over Macron’s unpopular pension reform.

Media reports said police had detained a total of 291 people nationwide during massive French Labor Day demonstrations on Monday, 111 of whom were arrested in Paris.

“The violent treatment by French police of the protesting citizens and workers of the country on International Labor Day is deeply regrettable,” Kanaani tweeted. “We still advise the French government to listen to the voices of its protesting citizens and avoid resorting to violence against them.”

The western city of Nantes and the central city of Lyon were also the scene of police violence on Monday as protesting workers and social activists, backed by labor unions, thronged the streets in their thousands to mark the first day of May.

The protesters pelted stones and projectiles at the riot police, smashed shop windows and damaged bus stops in response to the police firing teargas canisters.

In the northern city of Calais and the southern city of Toulouse, environmental activists and other groups fighting for economic justice were in the streets amid growing discontent with Macron’s policies.

According to France’s Interior Ministry, some 782,000 people protested across France on Monday for May Day in a new show of anger against Macron’s contentious pension reform, including 112,000 in Paris alone.

The CGT union, however, said it counted 2.3 million protesters across France, including 550,000 in the capital. The turnout was massively higher than May Day last year.

French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters that at least 108 police were wounded across France as violence erupted amid simmering anger at Macron’s pension reform, which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Apart from the retirement age raise, the legislation also requires people to work 43 years to receive a full pension, among other changes to the system.

After France’s highest court approved the law, Macron ignored calls to delay its enactment by signing it, in a move that fueled public anger and unleashed the country’s biggest protests in years.