Strike Day: Venturing Out

Saturday 12 March was the 7th day of collective action against the proposed increase in the national retirement age. I wanted to get out and see how the city was affected in a general sense, avoiding to the main route of march from the Place de la République to the Place de la Nation.

A sole contingent of gendarmes guarded the l'Assemblée Nationale.

What I saw pretty much squared with later reporting in Le Monde and France 24 that the turnout was about one third of what it had been on Tuesday 7 March--less than 400,000 participants in Paris by the largest count.

I headed to Place de la Concorde, basically the connection point between the Champs-Élysées, the Jardin des Tuileries, and the Louvre. Because of the substantial tourist and vehicle traffic at Concorde on a "normal" day, I thought this might have seen some spillover impact--not necessarily protesters, but just general congestion if the roads and public transport were affected. I then planned to walk through the Tuileries, cross the Seine, and head over to l'Assemblée Nationale, thinking that the seat of government might attract some smaller demonstrations.

The main thing this outing revealed was my profound ignorance about the issue, and French social movements in general (or rather, it underscored my ignorance, which really was never in doubt). The metro to Concorde was running on time and ridership seemed normal for a Saturday. At and around Concorde, traffic was moving and there were a lot of tourists milling about. I did see one large crowd, but they were in line to see a Matisse exhibit at the Musée de l'Orangerie. At least I was able to admire a bronze-cast of Rodin's Le Baiser ("the kiss") in the Tuileries.

Lining up for Matisse at l'Orangerie.

The Kiss at Tuileries.

I found the opposite situation outside of l'Assemblée Nationale: an island of comparatively quiet solitude. Except for four gendarmes chatting on a street corner, I pretty much had the place to myself. This surprised me a bit. In the U.S., the Capitol and state houses around the country are the usual sites of demonstrations for and against government action. In France, demonstrations are more likely in places that symbolically evoke the French people themselves (e.g., la République and la Nation). On the other hand, much of the voting and debate over pension reform is occurring across town in France's upper parliamentary house, le Senat. But I didn't see any reports of demonstrations there, either. 

Sèvres-Babylone was also week-end usual, if not quiet. On the walk over, I stopped in at the Chappelle Notre-Dame-de-la-Médaille-Miraculeuse and saw the purportedly incorruptible remains of two sainted nuns--one of whom was visited by the BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary) in 1830. Both ladies were ensconced in wax representations of their earthly selves, so they looked all right to me from the back of the crowded chapel.

The biggest--and most disturbing--revelation of the day was that, unlike the 16th and 15th Arrs., none of the tourist, government or retail areas were overflowing with uncollected trash. Neither was the area around la Basilique du Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre or in the Cligancourt neighborhood (18th Arr.) when I visited the next day. I can only speculate as to why our trash has not been picked up, but it's starting to feel like some of France's fraternité and egalité is lacking in this regard.

Day 5 of no trash collection in the 16th Arr. We still have liberté, though, and that ain't bad.