Rail services were disrupted and some schools closed as rubbish piled up on the streets of France on Thursday as part of a ninth national day of strikes against an extremely unpopular bill to raise the retirement age.
Protesters blocked a motorway near Toulouse in southwestern France early this morning and a bus station to the west in Rennes, the daily Le Parisien reported. Protest rallies were planned throughout the country throughout the day.
President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that the legislation – which his government approved last week without a parliamentary vote – it would take effect at the end of the year despite escalating anger across the country.
“The best answer we can give to the president is that there are millions of people on strike and in the streets,” said Philippe Martinez, leader of the hardline CGT union.
Protests against the regulatory changes, which push the retirement age back by two years to 64 and speed up the increase in the number of years one must work to collect a full pension, have drawn large crowds at union-organized rallies since January.
