PARIS (AP) – Protests and strikes against unpopular pension reforms swept France again on Tuesday, with many thousands demonstrating and the Eiffel Tower being closed and police stepping up security while the government warned that radical protesters intended “to destroy, to hurt.” and kill”.
Fears that violence could disrupt large-scale demonstrations prompted what Home Secretary Gérald Darmanin described as an unprecedented deployment of 13,000 officers, almost half of whom were concentrated in the French capital.
After months of upheaval, an exit from the firestorm of protest sparked by President Emmanuel Macron’s changes to France’s pension system seemed as far away as ever. Despite fresh union calls for the government to halt its hotly contested push to raise France’s statutory retirement age from 62 to 64, Macron appears to have remained linked with her.
The French leader previously used a special constitutional power to ram the reform past lawmakers without allowing them a vote. His move this month has further fueled the protest movement. Since then, violence has erupted and thousands of tons of stinking rubbish have piled up on the streets of Paris as refuse collectors went on strike.
The Eiffel Tower’s website announced that strikers had shut down the world-famous tourist attraction. The Louvre Museum was similarly bound on strike on Monday.
“Everyone is getting angrier,” said Clément Saild, a train passenger at Paris’s Gare de Lyon station, where the platforms were temporarily occupied and blocked by protesting workers on Tuesday.
He said he supports the strikes despite their impact on transport and other services.
“I’m 26 and I’m wondering if I’ll ever retire,” he said.
Another passenger, Helene Cogan, 70, said: “The French are stubborn and things are getting out of hand.”
Tuesday’s wave of protests marked the tenth time since January that unions have called on workers to walk away from work and called on protesters to flood the country’s streets against Macron’s retirement changes, which are a key priority of his second term as president.
His government argues that without reform, France’s pension system will slide into deficit in many richer countries due to lower birth rates and longer life expectancies. Macron’s opponents say additional funds for pensions could come from other sources without requiring workers to retire later.
The demonstrations began peacefully on Tuesday morning with large crowds in several cities. However, police reported being pelted with objects and responded with tear gas to disperse protesters in the western city of Nantes and braced for violence elsewhere.
The home secretary said more than 1,000 “radical” troublemakers, some from overseas, could join demonstrations in Paris and other cities.
“They come to destroy, injure and kill police officers and gendarmes. Your goals have nothing to do with pension reform. Their goals are to destabilize our republican institutions and bring blood and fire to France,” the minister said in detail about policing on Monday.
Some protesters, human rights activists and political opponents of Macron allege that police officers used excessive force against protesters. A police regulator is investigating multiple allegations of misconduct by officers.
Striking railway workers outside Gare de Lyon marched behind a banner that read: “Police are mutilating. We do not forgive!”
Lucie Henry, a 36-year-old protester, said Macron “set everyone on fire” by bypassing Parliament to push through his reform.
“What adds fuel to the fire is the behavior of the government, especially the police brutality,” she said.
Macron’s opponents are urging him to calm tempers by backing down. Union leader Laurent Berger appealed on Tuesday for a break in the implementation of the pension reform and for mediation.
“If we want to avoid tensions – and I want to avoid them – the unions propose a gesture to calm things down,” he said. “It must be confiscated.”
But government spokesman Olivier Veran said no mediation was needed for unions and the government to talk to each other.
The latest round of protests prompted Macron to cancel a state visit by King Charles III scheduled for this week. to be postponed indefinitely.
However, Veran insisted that France remains a welcoming place for all non-royal visitors.
“Life goes on,” he said.
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Jade le Deley, Jeffrey Schaeffer, Helena Alves, and Masha Macpherson contributed to this report.