France protests: Around 1.28 million people demonstrate against Macron’s pension reforms
French President Emmanuel Macron’s plans to push back the retirement age to 64 faced remarkable resistance on March 7 after around 1.28 million people came down on the streets to protest the move.
Police used tear gas in Paris. Reports in the French media cited numerous minor clashes in the western city of Nantes. However, more than 260 union-organised rallies across the country were mostly peaceful, the news agency AFP reported.
Only one in five regional and high-speed trains were running, however, and the Paris metro system was operating with limited capacity.
“The government has to take (resistance) into account when there are so many people in the street, when they’re having so much trouble explaining and passing their reform,” CFDT union chief Laurent Berger was quoted as saying by the AFP.
President Macron has championed the retirement age reforms since coming to power in 2017. Macron views it as essential to cutting pension system deficits forecast for the coming decades.
French opposition calls for reversal of Macron’s pension age decision
Macron’s political opponents and union leaders sought to convince people that massive street protests could force the Macron government into a U-turn.
“On the one hand there’s (Macron’s) will, on the other the will of the people,” hard-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon told a demonstration in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille.
“Who should have the last word? Of course, it should be the people,” he added, calling for fresh elections or a referendum on the changes. Police were expecting 1.1 to 1.4 million people to protest with estimates from the interior minister and the unions expected later in the day.
France protests: Why change in retirement age?
The Macron government has asserted in the past that raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 means abolishing privileges enjoyed by employees in some sectors. It has also pointed out that rejigging the requirements for a full pension are required to balance the pension system.
Many of France’s European neighbours have hiked the retirement age to 65 or above.
Its spending on pensions is the third highest among industrialised countries, at about 14.5 percent of GDP, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
“If we want to keep this system going, we need to work longer,” Macron said last month.
(With inputs from agencies)
