The Eiffel Tower shut down, France’s vaunted high-speed trains stood still and teachers walked off the job as unions yesterday launched nationwide strikes and protests over the French government’s plan to overhaul the retirement system.
Paris authorities barricaded the presidential palace and deployed 6,000 police officers as activists — many in yellow vests representing France’s year-old movement for economic justice — gathered for a major march through the capital.
Organizers hope for a mass outpouring of anger at French President Emmanuel Macron for his centerpiece reform, seen as threatening the hard-fought French way of life.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Macron remained “calm and determined” to push it through, a top presidential official said.
The Louvre Museum warned of strike disruptions, while Paris hotels struggled to fill rooms. Many visitors — including the US secretary of energy — canceled plans to travel to one of the world’s most-visited nations amid the strike.
Unprepared tourists discovered historic railway stations standing empty, with about nine out of 10 of high-speed trains canceled.
Signs at Orly Airport in Paris showed “canceled” notices, as the civil aviation authority announced 20 percent of flights had been grounded.
Some travelers showed support for the striking workers, but others complained about being embroiled in someone else’s fight.
“I arrived at the airport this morning and I had no idea about the strike happening, and I was waiting for two hours in the airport for the train to arrive and it didn’t arrive,” Ian Crossen of New York said. “I feel a little bit frustrated and I’ve spent a lot of money. I’ve spent money I didn’t need to, apparently.”
Vladimir Madeira, a Chilean tourist who had traveled to Paris for vacation, said the strike had been “a nightmare.”
He had not heard about the protest until he arrived in Paris and transport disruptions had foiled his plans to travel directly to Zurich, Switzerland, yesterday.
Beneath the closed Eiffel Tower, tourists from Thailand, Canada and Spain echoed those sentiments.
The big question was how long the strike would last.
French Minister of Transport Elisabeth Borne said that she expects the travel troubles to be just as bad today, while the unions said that it is an open-ended movement and they hope to keep up the momentum at least for a week, in the hope of forcing the government to make concessions.
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