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Street Garbage Piles Up As Nationwide Protests Rock France After President Macron Insists On New Pension Bill

Street Garbage Piles Up As Nationwide Protests Rock France After President Macron Insists On New Pension Bill
March 23, 2023

The action is said to draw huge crowds against what they described as President Emmanuel Macron's "scorn" and "lies".

Garbage was piled up on the streets of France and train services were disrupted while some schools shut on Thursday as part of a ninth nationwide day of strikes against a deeply unpopular bill to raise the pension age.

 

Protests against the legislation which lifts the retirement age by two years to 64 have drawn huge crowds at rallies organised by unions since January.

 

The action is said to draw huge crowds against what they described as President Emmanuel Macron's "scorn" and "lies".

 

Reuters reports that protesters blocked a highway near Toulouse in southwestern France in the early morning and a bus depot in the west, in Rennes, Le Parisien newspaper said. Protest rallies were scheduled across the country later in the day.

 

President Macron on Wednesday said the legislation - which his government pushed through parliament without a vote last week - would come into force by year-end despite escalating anger across the country.

 

"The best response we can give the president is that there are millions of people on strike and in the streets," said Philippe Martinez, who leads the hardline CGT union.

 

Protests against the policy changes, which lift the retirement age by two years to 64 and accelerate an increase in the number of years one must work to draw a full pension, have drawn huge crowds in rallies organised by unions since January.

 

According to the report; most protests have been peaceful, but anger has mounted since the government pushed the bill through parliament without a vote last week.

 

The past seven nights have seen spontaneous demonstrations in Paris and other cities with rubbish bins set ablaze amid scuffles with police.

 

Laurent Berger, the head of France's biggest union, the moderate CFDT, told BFM TV the government must withdraw the pension law.

 

The latest wave of protests represents the most serious challenge to the president's authority since the "Yellow Vest" revolt four years ago. Polls show a wide majority of French opposed the pension legislation as well as the government's decision to push it through parliament without a vote.