May 1st in France: up to 650,000 people expected to take to the streets

The authorities estimate that between 500,000 and 650,000 people will take to the streets throughout France on May 1, including between 80,000 and 100,000 in Paris alone. This was reported by the broadcaster "Bfmtv". The forecast is therefore for a greater number of demonstrators compared to the marches of previous years. This year's demonstrations, in fact, will be prompted by the approval of the pension reform, promulgated by President Emmanuel Macron after passing the scrutiny of the Constitutional Council. The unions expect a "massive mobilization with a festive, determined, and popular spirit," said the secretary of the Cgt cheminot Montparnasse railway union, Arnaud Marcinkiewicz. For the confederal secretary of the CGT, Celine Verzelletti, “there will be all the union organizations behind the same banner. It has been a long time since we have known such union unity". Around 300 demonstrations and rallies are expected in all. The Minister of the Interior, Gerald Darmanin, announced the mobilization of 12,000 agents, 5,000 of which in Paris. Between 80,000 and 100,000 people are expected in the capital. Among these, between one thousand and two thousand people are considered "at risk".