Macron dismisses pan-bashing as he hits the road

MUTTERSHOLTZ, France (AFP): President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday said protesters bashing pots and pans would not help France forward as he toured the country hoping to turn the page on his unpopular pension reform.

Pot-bashing, a form of protest with a long history in France, began during Macron’s address to the nation on Monday evening after he signed the bill into law over the weekend.

Police pushed back dozens of protesters banging kitchenware earlier in the day ahead of the president’s arrival in the eastern village of Muttersholtz in the Alsace region.

“Saucepans will not allow France to move forward,” Macron said as he visited a wood factory in the village.

“The reality across the country is not just those making noise with pans or grumbling.”

“You will always see me with people… I have to keep going,” he added.

The president made very few public appearances to speak to voters during the three months after announcing the deeply unpopular pension reform, whose flagship measure is hiking the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Political opponents and trade unions have urged protesters to maintain their campaign against the law and called for a new day of mass protest on May 1.

Around a hundred people from the CGT and CFDT unions gathered in front of the mayor’s office in Muttersholtz earlier on Wednesday, using frying pans and pan lids as well as whistles and horns to make noise.

After several requests from police to move back from the area, where local authorities have banned demonstrations, officers used force to push them 200 meters (650 feet) away.

On Tuesday evening, a private trip by Macron to Saint-Denis, northeast of Paris, also saw around 300 demonstrators voice their anger at his pension changes, which were signed into law last week.

“People will make themselves heard but that’s part of the moment,” an aide to the president told reporters on Wednesday, adding that there would be “expressions of anger most probably, support perhaps.”

The scenes recall Macron’s visits around France during the so-called “Yellow Vest” protests of 2018-19, when the head of state was frequently confronted by angry hecklers or protesters.

He was slapped in the face in 2021 by a 28-year-old unemployed mediaeval history enthusiast during a visit to a small town in southeastern France.

After Wednesday’s visit to a construction company in Muttersholtz, Macron is set to visit a school in the southern Herault region on Thursday.