As part of a ninth national day of strikes against a vehemently unpopular bill to increase the pension age, trains were disrupted, some schools were closed, and trash accumulated on the streets of France on Thursday.
According to the Le Parisien daily, protesters shut down a highway in the early hours of the morning in southwest France near Toulouse and a bus depot in Rennes, to the west. Later in the day, protest marches were planned across the nation.
President Emmanuel Macron declared on Wednesday that the law, which his administration forced through parliament last week without a vote, would go into effect by the end of the year despite growing unrest across the nation.
“The best response we can give the president is that there are millions of people on strike and in the streets,” said Philippe Martinez, who leads the hardline CGT union.
Huge crowds have attended union-organized demonstrations since January to protest the policy changes, which raise the retirement age by two years to 64 and speed up the increase in the number of years one must work to receive a full pension.
The majority of demonstrations have been peaceful, but rage has grown since the government forced the measure through parliament last week without a vote.
In Paris and other towns over the past seven nights, there have been unannounced protests that have included burning trash cans and altercations with the police.
The day of strikes and demonstrations on Thursday, according to labor unions, would attract sizable crowds in response to what they called Macron’s “scorn” and “lies.”
The leader of France’s largest union, the moderate CFDT, Laurent Berger, told BFM TV that the government needs to revoke the pension legislation.
The latest wave of protests represents the most serious challenge to the president’s authority since the “Yellow Vest” revolt four years ago. Polls show a wide majority of French opposed to the pension legislation as well as the government’s decision to push it through parliament without a vote.
Labour Minister Olivier Dussopt said the government was not in denial about the tensions but wanted to move on.
