Hundreds of thousands of people marched through the streets of a number of French cities, including Paris, Marseille, Toulouse, Nantes and Lyon, to protest the proposed reform.
While the Interior Ministry said 1.1 million people took part in the protests, organizers claimed over 2 million took part.
French trade unions had called for mass mobilization after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne last week put forward the government’s long-announced proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The last time the French trade union movement held such a large mass rally was twelve years ago when the then government raised the retirement age from 60 to 62.
Hundreds of thousands demonstrated in France on Thursday against the government’s proposal for pension reform, and in several places there were clashes between demonstrators and the police, such as here in Paris where the police used tear gas against demonstrators on the outskirts of the city. Photo: Lewis Joly/AP/NTB
Big problems
Thursday’s strike led to major problems in public transport in France, which particularly affected the metro in Paris and the high-speed TGV trains.
Several parents were also forced to stay at home with their children because many French teachers were on strike and several schools were closed.
– Macron wants us to die at work. We get up early in the morning, some colleagues have to get up at 3 in the morning. It will be too much to have to work until we turn 64, says the 43-year-old sanitation worker Hamidou in Paris.
Dissatisfaction with the proposed pension reform in France has been great, and is the reason why thousands of French demonstrated on Thursday. Photo: Lewis Joly/AP/NTB
The 42-year-old carpenter and roofer Laurent Quere also went on strike on Thursday.
– Any employer who is in his 50s will probably think of employing us when we are 64 years old, he says.
38 arrested
The demonstrations were largely peaceful. But on the outskirts of Paris there were clashes between police and young protesters.
The police used tear gas against protesters who responded by throwing stones and sticks.
38 people were arrested and charged, some for disorderly conduct, others for vandalism or for carrying illegal weapons, reports BFMTV.
From a demonstration in Paris on Thursday afternoon. Photo: Lewis Joly/AP/NTB
New attempt
Even when Macron was elected president in 2017, he stated that the French “must work more” and that the pension system must change.
A similar proposal for pension reform caused a great uproar and nationwide strikes and demonstrations also in 2019, during Macron’s first term in office. During the corona pandemic, the reform was put on hold.
Macron was re-elected for a new term in April last year, but two months later his alliance lost its majority in the National Assembly. This makes it far more difficult for the government to get the new pension reform proposal adopted.
Most of the opposition parties are opposed to the pension changes. So are many French people, opinion polls show.
French high school students block the entrance to their school in Paris on Thursday. Several thousand French people have demonstrated against the government’s proposed pension reform, which will raise the retirement age by two years. Photo: Nicolas Garriga/AP/NTB
