Thousands of protesters took to the streets across France on Saturday to pressure the government not to implement its pension reform plans, which include raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.
After three days of nationwide strikes since the beginning of the year, the unions hope to match the massive turnout on January 19, when more than a million people demonstrated against the plans.
«If they are not able to hear what is happening in the street; if they can’t realize what’s happening to people, they shouldn’t be surprised if this breaks out at some point,” said Delphine Maisonneuve, a 43-year-old nurse, at the start of a protest in Paris.
President Emmanuel Macron affirms that the reform is “vital” to guarantee the viability of the pension system.
According to the Ministry of the Interior, some 963,000 people have turned out for demonstrations across the country. Parisian police said some 93,000 people had marched in the capital, up from 80,000 on January 19. The unions estimated that 500,000 people demonstrated in Paris.
Police used tear gas and smoke grenades in their attempt to disperse some of the more radical elements of the protests.
In a joint statement ahead of Saturday’s marches, the main unions called on the government to withdraw the bill. They warned that if their demands were not met, they would try to paralyze France from March 7. A strike has already been called for February 16.
“If the government continues to turn a deaf ear, the inter-union will ask for the paralysis of France,” they said before the marches on Saturday.
Increasing the retirement age by two years and extending the contribution period would generate an additional 17.7 billion euros (19.18 billion dollars) in annual pension collections, which would allow the system to break even in 2027, according to the Ministry of Labor estimates.
Unions say there are other ways to do it, such as taxing the super-rich or asking employers or well-to-do pensioners to contribute more.
