New demonstrations against the pension reform took place on Thursday January 26, 2023. Torchlight retreats took place in the Hérault, in Béziers and Bédarieux, as in Nîmes in the Gard. Other mobilizations are planned for Friday.
From the capital of Gard to the remote territories of Hérault, the pension reform mobilized again on Thursday January 26 in Occitania.
“It was a strong request from union activists, in the space between January 19 and 31, to organize an initiative in the territory to maintain mobilization and to anchor the fight in Bédarieux and the Hauts-Cantons”, explains Dimitri Estimbre, the general secretary of the CGT Bédarieux. In the town of Hérault, the meeting was set for 6:30 p.m. in front of the Maison des Syndicats. The CGT announces Thursday evening 260 participants in the procession closed by the Union Syndicale Solidaires and the Attac association.
In Bédarieux, there are many young pensioners who cannot afford the luxury of going to live on the coast, so they come to the hinterland.
Dimitri Estimbre, general secretary of the CGT Bédarieux
“It is a deindustrialized territory, particularly affectedcontinues Dimitri Estimbre interviewed by Dorothée Berhault and Yannick Le Teurnier, journalists at France 3 Occitanie who followed the mobilization. Public services are flying away one behind the other, so there is also an issue of living in the territories. There are a lot of pensioners who live here with small pensions, there are a lot of people deprived of jobs (…) There are a lot of small pensioners who cannot afford the luxury of going to live on the coast so they come in the hinterland.”
Biterroise organizations also called for mobilization this Thursday, January 26, during a torchlight procession in the city center launched at 6:00 p.m. from the forecourt of the Béziers theater. They also call on employees and young people to prepare general assemblies to discuss the continuation of the mobilization. 10,000 people had gathered during the previous mobilization on Thursday 19 January.
About 130 people also marched in Nîmes where an inter-union had called for a new torchlight procession. This march started at 6 p.m. from the Maison Carrée, in the heart of the capital of Gard.
