Violent protests against pension reform in France forced the postponement of King Charles III’s visit on Friday, underscoring the growing security and political challenges facing President Emmanuel Macron. Macron condemned the overnight violence, while the Council of Europe criticized the “excessive use of force” by some police officers during the demonstrations. The king’s first foreign trip as monarch was intended to highlight warming Franco‑British relations, but instead it highlighted the severity of unrest in Britain’s neighbour.
Macron requested the postponement during talks on Friday morning, a UK government spokesperson said, citing a call for fresh strikes on the second day of the king’s tour. The decision, explained Macron’s office, was made “in order to be able to welcome His Majesty King Charles III in conditions which reflect our friendly relations.” Police arrested more than 450 people on Thursday, according to interior‑ministry figures, and 441 security‑force members were injured during the most violent day of protests since the start of the year. Demonstrators are opposing Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Over 900 fires were set around Paris, with radical anarchist groups blamed for igniting uncollected rubbish and smashing shop windows, leading to frequent clashes with riot police. Rights groups, magistrates and left‑wing politicians have also denounced alleged police brutality, and the Council of Europe warned that sporadic acts of violence “cannot justify excessive use of force by agents of the state” or deprive peaceful protesters of their right to assembly.
In southwestern Bordeaux, protesters set fire to the ancient wooden entrance of city hall on Thursday. Charles III had been scheduled to visit the city on Tuesday, after a day in Paris. Some Parisians felt the cancellation would avoid further embarrassment for France, as the capital’s streets were strewn with rubbish due to a waste‑collector strike and protesters threatening to disrupt the royal visit. “It would be a wiser decision for him to come in a little while so that we avoid a disaster,” said Annick Siguret, a retiree in her 60s, to AFP near overflowing bins and a vandalised bank. The second leg of Charles’s European tour—to Germany—is expected to proceed as scheduled on Wednesday.
More than a million people marched in France on Thursday, reinvigorated by Macron’s tactics and statements over the past week. The uproar over the pension‑age legislation, which Macron pushed through parliament without a vote last week, has created a major domestic crisis just ten months into his second term. “I condemn the violence and offer my full support to the security forces who worked in an exemplary manner,” Macron told reporters on Friday during a trip to Brussels. His decision to force the legislation through parliament and his refusal to back down in a televised interview on Wednesday appeared to energise many opponents.
Commentators are questioning how the crisis will end, just four years after the “Yellow Vest” anti‑government demonstrations. “No one knows where the way out lies,” political scientist Bastien Francois of Sorbonne University told AFP. “Everything depends on one man who is a prisoner of the political situation.” Laurent Berger, leader of the moderate CFDT union, said on Friday that he had spoken to a presidential aide and suggested pausing the pensions law for six months. “It’s the moment to say ‘listen, let’s put things on pause, let’s wait six months’,” Berger told RTL radio, adding that it would calm the situation.
Piles of partially burnt rubbish littered Paris streets on Friday, while oil‑refinery blockades by striking workers began to create fuel shortages nationwide. The Ministry of Energy Transition warned on Thursday that kerosene supply to the capital and its airports was becoming “critical.” More flights have been cancelled until at least Wednesday at airports around the country due to a strike by air‑traffic controllers.
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