Disabled in France protest in Paris for higher benefits
April 1, 2008
through Paris as disabled French demanded more financial support from French government.
Sick and disabled French people, many in wheelchairs, demonstrated in Paris on Saturday for increased government benefits to the disabled in France. The numbers of protesters was given as 30,000 by the organizers of the demonstrations, while the French police put the number at closer to 16,000.
The protest united around 100 organizations for the physically and mentally disabled across France, insisting on a disability pension that would at least equal the minimum wage in France, €1,280 ($2,010 US) per month. Disabled people in France today receive less than half that amount, €628 ($986). About 810,000 people in France who can no longer work, or never could, because of a disability receive this sum. Banners and placards at the peaceful protest read, loosely translated: “Dignity yes, charity no” , “Neither poor nor submissive”, “1 Rolex= 15,000 euros = 24 months of French disability” and “Disability: it could happen to you.”
“It is terrible that tens of thousands of disabled people in France are condemned to live alone, below the poverty line,” said one organizer.
Participants in the demonstration travelled from across France to Paris by train, bus or specially equipped vehicles. The march culminated on the Paris’ powerful Right Bank. A petition signed by tens of thousands was presented to President of France Nicolas Sarkozy by a delegation of disabled people. Sarkozy had previously announced a raise of only 5%, or about 30 euros a month, to the benefits.
One goal of the protest march was not only to get the attention of the government of France but to to raise awareness about the plight of French disabled people among the general public in France. Jean-Marie Barbier, head of the Association of the Paralyzed of France, said that “the French imagine that everything is done in this country for the handicapped, but it’s not true.”
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