French Protests vs Pension Age Hike Intensifies

A second wave of French protests and strikes is underway against President Emmanuel Macron's plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, Paul Kirby reported for BBC News.

Photo Insert: The Macron government is pushing ahead with its pension age reforms in the face of opinion polls that suggest two-thirds of voters are opposed to the changes.

Eight big unions are taking part in the strike, which has disrupted schools, public transport, and oil refineries.

Marches are taking place across France involving hundreds of thousands of people after the first day of action attracted more than a million people. Several cities have seen larger crowds than on Jan. 19.

The Macron government is pushing ahead with its pension age reforms in the face of opinion polls that suggest two-thirds of voters are opposed to the changes, which begin their passage through the National Assembly next week.

Without a majority in parliament, the government will have to rely on the right-wing Republicans for support as much as the ruling parties' own MPs. Hours before the main protest began in the Place d'Italie in central Paris, thousands of marchers turned out in Toulouse, Marseille, and Nice in the south, and Saint Nazaire, Nantes, and Rennes in the west.

A reported 11,000 police were deployed to cover the demonstrations taking place in a reported 200 towns and cities.

"Macron is certain to lose," far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon told reporters in Marseille.

"Nobody wants his reforms, and the more the days go by, by the greater the opposition to them."

There was severe disruption to transport, with one in three high-speed trains running and only two driverless metro lines operating normally in Paris. Large crowds were reported on one of the main aboveground lines in the capital.

The CGT union said at least three-quarters of workers had walked out at the big TotalEnergies oil refineries and fuel depots, although the company said the number was far lower.

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