Protests grips France as President Macron Pushes for Pension Reform
HY News
23 March, 2023 11:47 am IST
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Hundreds of thousands of people were set to strike and demonstrate in France after President Emmanuel Macron vowed to push on with a deeply unpopular pension reform despite escalating anger across the country.
Protests against the legislation -- which lifts the retirement age by two years to 64 -- have drawn huge crowds in rallies organised by unions since January.
Labour unions said Thursday's ninth nationwide day of action would draw huge crowds against what they described as Macron's "scorn" and "lies." Macron drew an angry response from unions and opposition parties on Wednesday when he rejected their calls for him to heed growing popular anger.
Paris police said Tuesday that 234 people were arrested overnight in the capital mostly for setting fire to garbage in the streets.
Mostly small, scattered protests were held in cities around France, some degenerating into violence late Monday. In Paris, small groups took to the streets to set fire to piles of trash that have formed because of a strike by garbage collectors in the capital that is in its 16th day.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne expressed the government’s “solidarity” towards 400 police officers who have been injured in recent days, including 42 overnight.
Macron has planned a series of political meetings on Tuesday with the prime minister, parliamentary leaders and lawmakers from his centrist alliance, one day after the government survived to two no-confidence motions.
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