Paris/London (CNN) demonstrators broke in On Thursday at BlackRock’s office building in Paris, protest government opposition pension reform To become the world’s largest money manager.
A video shared on social media showed protesters entering the Central Office Block near the Opéra Garnier opera house, holding red flames and firing smoke bombs.
About 100 people, including representatives of several trade unions, remained on the first floor of the building for about 10 minutes., chant anti-reformation slogan. BlackRock’s office is on his third floor.
“The meaning of this action is very simple: we went to BlackRock headquarters to tell them that we are taking the workers’ money as our pension,” said a spokesman for the French trade union SUD. Jerome Schmidt told CNN affiliate BFM. tv set. BlackRock declined to comment.
On April 6, 2023, workers break into the Centtorial building that houses BlackRock’s offices in Paris.
Nationwide protests against the French government’s plan to raise the retirement age for most workers from 62 to 64 have now entered their 11th day. The government last month invoked a special constitutional power to pass a controversial bill through parliament without a vote.
This change means that after 2027, citizens will have to work longer to receive their full public pension.
BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, is not involved in pension reform. But according to protestor Françoise Onnick, a schoolteacher, employees targeted the company because of their work for a private pension fund. Reuters.
The government says a pension law is needed to prevent a looming budget deficit, but the reform has angered workers amid rising costs of living. Inflation in France fell last month from a February record, thanks to a sharp slowdown in energy price gains, but food price inflation accelerated.
Representatives of the CGT, France’s largest trade union federation and a key figure in the protest movement, blame capitalism for many of its problems.
Rolling strike action in the country Since the beginning of the year, it has wreaked havoc on transportation services, schools and businesses. At least 80 people were arrested and 123 police officers injured during the March 23 protests, in which demonstrators set off arson, fired smoke grenades, and damaged property.
France’s interior ministry said 11,500 law enforcement officers will be deployed across the country on Thursday.
The country’s new retirement age remains below the norm in Europe and many other developed countries, with 65 as the age at which full pension benefits apply and increasingly approaching 67.
Public pensions in France are also more generous than in other countries. At about 14% of GDP in 2018, the country spent more on public pensions than most other countries, according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.
