New strike underway in France against pension reform
French unions have called a new strike by workers for the fifth day of action against President Emmanuel Macron's plans to reform pensions.
French lawmakers are debating a pension bill to raise the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64. President Macron says the reform is "vital" to ensure the viability of the pension system.
The strike on Thursday was held as fewer workers participated during school holidays across most of France. Most of the main line trains and the Paris metro were running normally during the day.
Employees at the energy giant EDF said they had lowered output by more than 3,000 megawatts, or the equivalent of three nuclear power plants, without affecting supply to end users. On Wednesday, many hydroelectric plants had been disconnected from the grid.
And on Thursday, 30 percent of flights from Paris' Orly airport were cancelled.
Police said they were expecting demonstrations by up to 650,000 people nationwide, after counting almost one million on Saturday.
The unions, however, said the weekend figure had been 2.5 million.
According to polls, around 70 percent of the public reject Macron's pension reform plans, while a petition opposing them has gathered over one million signatures.
After left-wing opponents submitted thousands of amendments to delay debate, it is unclear whether the lower house will discuss its Article 7, which lays out the change to the retirement age, before running out of time on Friday.
MPs have already rejected one of the bill's articles, designed to press companies to employ more workers of higher ages.
Socialist lawmaker Philippe Brun said there is "a possible majority in the chamber to vote against" the retirement age provision.
Macron himself told a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that opposition parties had "totally lost their way" over the pension fight.
The leading unions warned last week that they would seek to bring France to a standstill from March 7 if their demands were not met.
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