Paris trash strike to resume on April 13

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
4 Apr 2023 15:29

Just as piles of trash have been finally removed from the city's streets, striking sanitation workers in Paris announced that they would resume their strike.

Piles of rubbish litter the banks of the Seine, opposite the Eiffel Tower (AP)

Striking sanitation workers in Paris announced that they would resume their strike on April 13 against French President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the retirement age just as piles of trash have been finally removed from the city's streets.

The public services division of the CGT union requested that employees begin an indefinite strike next Thursday and participate in a statewide demonstration on April 6.

Half of Paris' 20 arrondissements (districts) for garbage collection rely on city employees. The remainder hires independent contractors.

In mid-March, more than 10,000 tons of garbage piled up in the streets of the French capital of Paris amid a sanitation workers' strike in protest of the controversial pension reform.

The symbolic milestone of 10,000 tons of uncollected garbage was reached and made headlines nationwide, attracting rats and dismaying tourists.

After garbage collectors started working again and the city increased the number of trucks on the road in the last few days, that number decreased to almost nothing.

It is worth noting that spontaneous protests have broken out daily in recent days, leading to hundreds of arrests and accusations of heavy-handed tactics by police.

Amnesty International has expressed alarm "about the widespread use of excessive force and arbitrary arrests reported in several media outlets."