Day 4: Protests in France to test govt's resolve over pension reform plan

Paris, February 11

Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across France on Saturday seeking to keep up pressure on the government over its pension reform plans, including a move to raise the retirement age to 64 from 62.

After three days of nationwide strikes since the start of the year, unions are hoping to match a mass turnout from January 19 when more than a million people marched in opposition to the plans.

“If they’re not able to listen to what’s happening on the streets, and are not able to realise what is happening with the people, well they shouldn’t be surprised that it blows up at some point,” Delphine Maisonneuve, a 43-year-old nurse told Reuters as a protest in Paris kicked off.

The French spend the largest number of years in retirement among OECD countries — a benefit which, opinion polls show, a substantial majority of people are reluctant to give up.

President Emmanuel Macron says the reform is “vital” to ensuring the viability of the pension system.

Early estimates showed that numbers had increased in Paris by about 20% from the last protest on Tuesday, newspaper Le Figaro reported.

Unions were hoping for a huge turnout for the first weekend protests since the movement began and to draw people from all ages and backgrounds to show the government that the anger against the reform runs deep.

In the central western city of Tours where the turnout appeared substantially higher than in mid-January, 40-year-old fireman Anthony Chauveau told Reuters that opposing the reform was crucial because the difficulties of his job were simply not being taken into consideration.

“They are telling us that we will need to work two more years… our life expectancy is lower than the majority of workers,” he said.

In a statement ahead of marches, all the main unions called for the government to withdraw the bill. They warned that they would seek to bring France to a standstill from March 7 if their demands were not met. — Reuters

Revamp vital: Macron

• Pension reform plans include a move to raise retirement age to 64 from 62
• President Emmanuel Macron says reform is “vital” to ensuring the viability of pension system
• Protesters warn to bring France to standstill from March 7 if demands not met
• Raising retirement age by two years to yield an additional 17.7 billion euros, as per official estimates