Tensions high in Paris as protests over Macron’s pension reform rage on

Tensions tun high in Paris as demonstrators once again rallied in protest against the planned pension reform announced by French President Emmanuel Macron

Two days after more than one million people took to the streets, raising their voices against the government's proposed pension reforms, clashes erupted in the capital between police and demonstrators. Angry protesters started setting trash cans on fire, breaking traffic lights, and blowing up firecrackers.

“Macron is stubborn, he is totally in the minority. There are 92 or 93 percent of people in the workforce who are opposed to this reform,” a member of La France Insoumise (LFI) party said in the protests.

“The government is arrogant as usual. There is a historic mobilization, the President of the Republic has gone on a trip abroad. These people are disconnected from reality,” another protesters said.

At the front of the procession, some protesters smashed bank windows and cash machines and some other protesters threw garbage cans, bottles and smoke bombs, while chanting “Down with capitalism” and “Macron, we will fight till the end!”

The protesters burned trash cans in the streets, as police forces beat the protesters with riot batons.

According to the police headquarters, twenty arrests were also made in Paris.

Quelques tensions place de la Nation lors de la dispersion de la marche des jeunes contre la réforme des retraites.
#21janvier #21janvier2023 #grevegenerale #ReformeDesRetraites #LaborReform #Paris #France #64AnsCestNon #LFI#GiletsJaunes #JeuneGarde pic.twitter.com/3TaNfcOcG1

— AnthoZ (@AnthoDepe) January 21, 2023

The protest against the pension reform was organized by 11 youth organizations and the left-wing La France Insoumise (LFI) party led by Jean-Luc Melenchon. The LFI, the far-left New Anticapitalist Party, and the alliance of left-leaning political groups known as the New Ecological and Social People's Union were all represented by participants waving banners.

“The government does not care what the people say, does not care about protests that last Thursday brought together two million people in the streets, it is so shameful. So this government has become authoritarian and it does not listen to the voice of the people when it is said that 80 percent of the population today rejects this pension reform,” said Eleonore Schmitt, French activist.

French workers join strikes against Macron's pension reform plan

Unions are hoping for over a million demonstrators in more than 200 cities across France.

On Thursday, France’s biggest protest in the decade took place as more than a million people took to the streets across France to protest against Macron's pension reform plan. Union organizers, however, estimated the number at 2 million, with 80,000 of them reportedly in Paris alone.

The government intends to hike the retirement age to 64 from the current 62 and streamline the pension system under changes even some supporters view as risky and likely to provoke backlash.

Earlier in January, Elisabeth Borne, French prime minister, published a draft of the contentious pension reform that the government intended to implement in 2023.

The draft states that starting on September 1, 2023, the French government will gradually rise the retirement age in the nation by three months every year. The retirement age will rise to 64 by 2030.

During the past months, Europe’s economic crises have intensified as widespread strikes and protests against the energy crisis, economic recession, and soaring inflation are seen across the continent in the wake of Ukraine-Russia war. The austerity policies of European governments have increased dissatisfaction among their citizens.

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