Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to streets across France on Thursday in the latest mass protests against a pensions overhaul that critics say could cut benefits even while requiring people to work longer before retiring.
Tensions flared in Paris and other cities as some black-clad protesters smashed glass-paneled shopfronts and bus stops, while others hurled paving stones toward police, who tried to disperse crowds with tear gas.
It was the fourth day of demonstrations since the protest began on Dec. 5 with a massive public transport strike now in its 36th day.
Photo: AFP
Police said at least 24 people had been detained in Paris, where 56,000 people marched toward the Saint-Lazare train station, the French Ministry of the Interior said.
About 452,000 protesters turned out across France, the ministry said, as teachers and other public-sector employees joined train and metro workers.
The General Confederation of Labour (CGT) union said that almost 1.7 million people protested across the country.
“Teachers like us stand to lose the most. Some could see their pensions cut by up to 100 euros [US$111] a month!” Marylou Crampette, a 25-year-old school teacher, said at the Paris march.
Unions have staged their biggest show of strength in decades against plans for a single, points-based system that would sweep away the country’s 42 pension schemes, many offering early retirement mainly to public workers.
The government says it is ready to negotiate, in particular on plans that would effectively extend the minimum age for receiving a full pension from 62 to 64.
“For us, health and hospital workers, or in retirement homes, it’s totally impossible to work until 64 years old,” said Morgane Henry, 41, at a protest in Lyon.
Commuters in Paris were again hit hard by scaled-back metro services, while the Eiffel Tower was shut, as during the previous protests.
National train services also remained severely disrupted during what has become the longest continuous rail strike in France.
“Between the government’s stance of: ‘We’re talking, everything is on the table’ and the reality, you have to wonder if it really intends to ... take the views of unions into account,” CGT’s Philippe Martinez said ahead of the Paris march.
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