A new demonstration in the struggle against the El Khomri Law (but clearly not only) was called for this Thursday April 14th at 10am, in the centre of Marseille, to not give up this dynamic that has been put in place during this month of diverse and varied demonstrations…
Less people than usual, as the calls were not very widely circulated, and a mobilisation in the morning during the week is a bit more difficult to achieve, especially in the quite short time period between the call-outs and the date. But this didn’t stop a lot of people again leaving on a wild demo in the centres streets, after some time hesitating before leaving.
We pass in front of the Medef [Movement of the Enterprises of France], that is still marked from the last encounter with Saturday’s demo, and cops are protecting. This time, they are all smart, completely clean, complete cops, not like their colleagues who don’t know how to look after their uniform. We don’t miss the opportunity to point this out. Next we go back up the streets to kick the ass of the CFDT [French Democratic Confederation of Labour] “unionists” who see nothing wrong with the content of the Labour Law and the world, as it is satisfying. They therefore received lots of paint bombs, and graffiti publicly expressed who they are: strike breakers.
The march carries on, continuing with slogans, with some new little sympathetic attempts: “On the streets? The youth! Under the streets? The cops!” or again “Ah, it’ll be, it’ll be, it’ll be, and the bosses will get it”. The march is fast and mobile, and the cops are generally caught short. We even arrive to the doors of the Prefecture, open, with people in front guarding. At the moment, it’s almost an invitation!
And finally the cops show up, panicking from the moment where we took one step on the road passing in front of the Prefecture. One short one amongst them, runs and comes gassing to no end, while the demonstrators had already arrived until there, with their colleagues throwing teargas grenades pretty much everywhere on the square, even so, nothing special really happen. But their efforts combined with their their quick decision, made them shower the terraces with gas, which the wind sent elsewhere.
From this moment, the demo was stretched a bit and accelerated, the demonstration returned onto Cours Lieutand after abandoning the square of the Prefecture. There, barricades were mounted with bins across the route (and the bins marked out the rest of the route), but they didn’t hold.
None the less , all this caused a nice mess in the traffic, also to allow to slow down the arrival of the police from the station, to therefore protect ourselves, and the march went back up towards Cours Julien, to head to the Canebière.
Once more, without a lot happening at this moment, the CRS [riot cops] launch gas again in all directions on the Cours Julien descent up until Lieutaud, following the demonstrators, that rushed onto Rue de l’Académie to rejoin Rue de Rome, still followed. Special mention to the teargas shot directly into the bins, that fell onto the feet of the cops that were further ahead. It’s always funny to see. […]
Still followed, what remained of the march redirected towards Cours Julien across Rue Estelle to disperse, which was done calmly. Whilst everyone dispersed, several BAC cars (3?) and police vans (4?) raced towards Cours Julien and organised a type of filtering roadblock around it. […]
The days results, it was still good to maintain the dynamic awaiting the forthcoming return of college and school students, in hoping that the lastest demos that took place will continue with a vengeance! It’s nonetheless a shame that the march didn’t manage to physically protect itself from the cop pursuit, that weren’t so many, which as we saw on previous occasions, can be pushed back by collective energy and cohesion. But this is only a postponement, no doubt that the demonstration to come will guard and surround itself from its troublemakers of struggle. In any case, it’s shouldn’t be funny for them to run around in the sun in their armour, and it’s already pretty nice to make them crazy (which they are).
With the Socialist Party, the Medef and the CFDT, that play their role as the brakes on the struggle, there’s lots left to foresee! Given the collective intelligence and inventiveness of the movement, we will continue onwards. It’s enough to want it. And to organise to do it.
Develop blockades, critique and struggle!
Towards an unlimited general strike!
