Police, protesters clash in France ahead of ruling on Macron's plan
Police in France have scuffled with protesters, on the 12th day of nationwide demonstrations against the government's pension plans.
Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets across the country on Thursday against President Emmanuel Macron's contested plans, which will raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The demonstrations came a day before a much-awaited verdict by the Constitutional Council on the legality of the bill. Police halted a protest in front of the council, France’s equivalent of the US supreme court.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez had warned in advance that protesters might “hit out, often against what they see as capitalist signs”.
The protesters engaged in intense scuffles with police as smoke bombs, projectiles and tear gas were fired, before a group set off red flares outside the court building.
Workers blocked the entrance to the Feyzin refinery near Lyon for two hours before police intervened. Others blockaded a rubbish incinerator outside Paris.
On the Rhine river, cargo traffic was disrupted after workers cut power at a waterway lock near the border with Germany and Switzerland,
If the council gives its approval, possibly with some caveats, the government will hope this will eventually put an end to protests, which have coalesced widespread anger against Macron.
But protesters said they would keep up the fight if the council gave a green light. "We don't want to work until 64," 50-year-old teacher Kathy Brochard told Reuters at the Paris rally.
Protesters want the bill withdrawn - or subjected to a referendum. Polls show about two-third of the French population are against the increase in retirement age.
This is certainly not the last day of the strike," Sophie Binet, the new leader of the hard-left CGT union, said at blockade of an incinerator outside Paris.
Macron and his government argue the new law is needed to ensure that France's generous pension system does not go bust. Unions say this can be done by other means.
Critics accuse the French president of being cut off from reality, running roughshod over public opinion and parliament while pursuing his private agenda.
"The president of the republic is completely disconnected from the preoccupations of workers," the head of the CFDT union, Laurent Berger, told reporters ahead of the Paris rally.
Political observers say the widespread discontent over the government's reform could have longer-term repercussions, including a possible boost for the far right.
‘Arab Nelson Mandela’ released after 40 years in France
Israeli fans clash with French supporters at Paris football match
Protests held in Paris against pro-Israel gala organized by far-right figures
Scores killed as Takfiri terrorists target Shia Muslims in Pakistan
Pezeshkian to US, Europeans: You are killing women, children
VIDEO | COP29: another climate failure?
ICC issues arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant for war crimes
Israeli strikes kill 88 Palestinians in northern Gaza
American voters plainly rejected complicity in Gaza genocide: Iran FM spox
ICC should issue more arrest warrants for Israeli authorities over Gaza genocide: UN expert
Israel using AI weapons co-produced by India in Gaza genocide: Report
PressTV NEWSLETTER
now
This makes it easy to access the Press TV website
