France set for more strikes as over 1 million protest against raising retirement age
- Protesters in France march against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to extend the retirement age to 64
- French unions announced new strikes and protests for January 31, and vow to try to get the government to back down
More than a million people marched through French cities on Thursday to denounce President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to raise the retirement age, with a wave of nationwide strikes halting trains, blocking refineries and curbing power generation.
Buoyed by their success, the country’s leading trade unions called for a second day of strikes on January 31 in a bid to force Macron and his government to back down on a pension reform plan that would see most people work an extra two years to age 64.
“Now, the government finds itself with its back to the wall,” the unions said in a joint statement. “Everyone knows that raising the retirement age only benefits employers and the wealthy.”
The protests are a major test for Macron, who said on Thursday that his pension overhaul was “just and responsible”, and necessary to help keep government finances on a sound footing. Opinion polls show most French oppose the measure.
Some 1.1 million protesters took to the streets in scores of protests across France, the Interior Ministry said, more than during a first wave of street protests when Macron first tried to pass the reform in 2019. He shelved that attempt when the Covid-19 pandemic erupted.
Police fired tear gas during intermittent skirmishes with hooded youths on the fringe of the Paris rally. Several dozen arrests were made.