Angry protests across France after President Macron doubles down on pensions
- Demonstrations against the new law have drawn huge crowds since January – the past seven nights have seen rubbish bins set ablaze and scuffles with police
- Most voters have long opposed the delaying of retirement age by two years to 64 and an increase in the years worked before drawing a full pension
French workers angry with President Emmanuel Macron and his plan to raise the pension age blocked access to a terminal at Paris’ main airport on Thursday as part of a nationwide day of protests, forcing some travellers to get there on foot.
At Roissy-Charles De Gaulle airport and across the country, wildcat actions by small groups of protesters blocked roads and access to schools, while protesters gathered with banners reading “No to the pension reform.”
Near Toulouse, in the southwest, plumes of smoke were seen rising from burning piles of debris blocking traffic on a highway. Unions also blocked the train tracks at Paris’ Gare de Lyon station, BFM TV footage showed.
Opinion polls have long shown that a majority of voters were opposed to delaying retirement age by two years to 64.
Voters were further angered by the government’s decision last week to push the pension changes through parliament without a vote, and by Macron’s defiant comments on Wednesday.
The president broke weeks of silence on the new policy to say he would stand firm and the law would come into force by the end of they year, at one point comparing the protests to the January 6, 2021 storming of the US Capitol.