"The government should change its position and listen to the people because what is happening is extremely serious. And we are seeing a radicalisation," Isabelle Vergriette, 64, a psychologist, said. "The government is largely responsible for this." The district's mayor, Emmanuelle Pierre-Marie, was out and about from the crack of dawn voicing concern in her neighbourhood about the consequences of the uncollected garbage, which has become a visual and olfactory symbol of the actions to defeat the president's pension reform plan.