As labor unions call for another round of nationwide mobilization on Tuesday, the visit by Charles that was scheduled to begin Sunday has been postponed, Macron’s office said in an email. It said the trip would soon be rescheduled.
In a statement Friday, Eric Ciotti, president of the right-wing Republicans party — which holds the majority in the French Senate but whose lawmakers have been split over the pension reform — described the postponement of King Charles’s visit as “a shame for our country” and a sign of “our international dimunition.”
“The whole world is watching France with alarm,” Ciotti, who supports raising the retirement age, said, adding, “France is more fractured than ever, trapped between the insurrectional demagogy of the extreme-left and the confused impotence of the government.”
Opponents of the pension bill, on both the left and right, described the last-minute disruption as a blow to a president who has not sufficiently heeded the sentiment of the street and faces pressure to resolve the crisis.
Macron told reporters in Brussels that “common sense and friendship” led to the delay. France has proposed rescheduling for the start of summer.
Macron’s office said the French and British governments made the decision jointly, after Macron and the British monarch spoke on the phone, for the king to visit “under conditions that are suitable to our friendly relations.”
Macron staunchly condemned violence that occurred during Thursday’s demonstrations and said the government is awaiting a review on the pension measure from the Constitutional Council. The court is reviewing the legislation after the government used executive powers to pass it last week without a vote in parliament’s lower house.
Macron has said the measure should be in effect by the end of the year, and while he acknowledged its unpopularity, he has defended it as the only viable way to protect the future of the country’s pension system as the population ages.
The move to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 has fueled anger for weeks in France, where retirement is a cherished phase of life and the pension system is considered by many to be a key part of the social contract.
Strikes have brought trains to a halt, as walkouts by trash collectors left garbage piling up on the streets of Paris. More than a million people, including rail workers and teachers, marched against the legislation Thursday, largely peacefully.
Yet demonstrations spiraled into clashes in cities including Paris, Rennes and Nantes, with riot police using water cannons and tear gas. Protesters smashed storefronts and set trash on fire, while others burned the door to city hall in Bordeaux — where Charles was scheduled to make a stop during his visit.
Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin said on Twitter early Friday that more than 450 people were detained across France the day before and that 441 police officers were injured. He said authorities had registered hundreds of acts of arson. Darmanin on Thursday blamed the violence on fringe groups of far-left activists.
With a constitution that enshrines the individual right to strike, France has a rich tradition of labor actions and mass protest. While many demonstrators participate peacefully, it is common for radical activists to show up at protests, set fires on the streets, vandalize property and clash with police. French riot police, meanwhile, often deploy tear gas, batons and rubber bullets against crowds.
Viral videos of police beating protesters in recent weeks has drawn renewed attention to policing tactics. A coalition of leftist French deputies in the European Parliament submitted a motion Friday calling on the E.U. body to condemn police violence against protesters and journalists in France — including arbitrary arrests, the use of “dangerous arms” that fire projectiles and the “disproportionate use of violence.”
In a statement, the lawmakers alleged the police tactics were “part of a deliberate strategy of intimidation to discourage the mobilization of opponents of the reform.”
The interior ministry did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the motion and the conduct of police officers.
The French presidency had been preparing to host Charles and his wife, Camilla, Queen Consort, from Sunday to Wednesday next week, before the royal pair continued on to Germany. The visit to Germany is expected to proceed as planned.
On the trip, which officials in both countries would have been planning for months, the royals were expected to join Macron and his wife for events that included a banquet at the Palace of Versailles.
The choice of venue inspired protest slogans portraying the palace as a symbol of the elite’s excesses, as Macron’s critics pounced on the timing and optics of the royal visit with taunts about a meeting “of two kings.”
Striking workers had refused to roll out a red carpet for the king’s visit — in opposition to the pension bill and in solidarity with workers on strike in Britain over wages and other grievances.
French union CGT said this week that its members at the government agency that provides red carpets, flags and furniture would not take part, prompting officials to say that others would handle the customary arrangements for the monarch’s arrival, according to French media.
“The king won’t have tea at Versailles,” French European Parliament deputy Manon Aubry tweeted. “The French people know how to scare all the monarchs! Whether they are in Buckingham or at the Elysée,” referring to the headquarters of the British monarchy and the seat of the French presidency, respectively.
Sébastien Chenu, a far-right lawmaker and vice president of parliament’s lower house, in a tweet Friday called the delay in King Charles’s visit “another consequence of the stubbornness” of Macron.
Left-wing lawmaker Sandrine Rousseau, a staunch opponent of Macron and the reform, said on Twitter the postponement was “the one and only clue, to date, that Emanuel Macron has grasped that a social movement (of historic proportions) was taking place in our country.”
Buckingham Palace on Friday confirmed the postponement of the French trip. “Their Majesties greatly look forward to the opportunity to visit France as soon as dates can be found,” the palace said in a statement.
The choice of France and Germany for the British monarch’s first official trip abroad was seen in Britain as part of efforts to help mend relations with other European nations, which have been strained in the post-Brexit years. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak met Macron in Paris this month at the first Anglo-France summit in half a decade.
“There will be no impact on the friendship between our two countries,” Anne-Claire Legendre, spokeswoman for the French foreign affairs ministry, said in a news conference Friday.
Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, called the postponement a “wise decision,” adding in a tweet Friday that she had told the British ambassador that the king and queen consort “will always be welcome in Paris.”
Rick Noack and Karla Adam contributed to this report.