Carnage erupts on the streets of France tonight after French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform reached a key constitutional milestone despite months of strikes and protests.
Legislation raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 is deeply unpopular in France and has sparked widespread unrest.
After the decision was announced by the Constitutional Council on Friday, large-scale protests began across the country that quickly turned violent.
Police were forced to use tear gas in Lyon and water cannons in Paris to control the streets, while protesters set fire to bicycles and fired flares in the center of the capital.
In cities across France, officials were seen charging down the streets as they battled protesters angry at the reforms.
Demonstrators use motorcycles to ignite a fire in front of the Hotel de Ville in Paris on Friday night
Dozens of police officers rushed towards demonstrators in central Paris on Friday
French gendarme faces protesters trying to maintain order in Paris
Police have used tear gas against protesters in Lyon, where minor outbreaks of violence have been reported
According to French media, protesters are marching in central Paris, with 3,000 people already gathered in front of City Hall by 5pm CET.
Demonstrations are taking place in major French cities including Paris, Rennes, Toulouse, Lyon and Nantes.
In Paris, protesters have fired flares and set bikes on fire outside City Hall, prompting a significant police response.
Reports on social media suggest that some protesters have erected barricades on the capital’s streets, although this has not been confirmed.
Macron and his government hope such a result would discourage further union-led protests, which at times turned violent.
But the nation braces for more rioting tonight and French police are standing by.
Protests have been happening almost weekly since January as around two-thirds of the population oppose the extremely unpopular reform. Council approval will bring France closer to its EU neighbours.
Protesters gathered outside Paris City Hall holding banners reading “climate of anger” and “no end to strikes until reform is withdrawn” as the Constitutional Council’s verdict was announced.
A heavy police presence is already in place in Lyon, with dozens of officers in riot gear struggling to maintain control.
Just after 6pm BST, footage shared on social media appeared to show police using tear gas to disperse protesters after hundreds of people marched through the city’s streets.
Demonstrators set fire to bicycles in central Paris after the decision to raise the retirement age was approved
Police officers use water cannons to defend the entrance to the Constitutional Court in Paris against demonstrators
Protesters gathered outside Paris City Hall holding banners reading “climate of anger” and “no end to strikes until reform is withdrawn” as the Constitutional Council’s verdict was announced
Demonstrators light red torches in front of the Olympic rings at the Hotel De Ville on Friday evening
Impromptu demonstrations took place in other areas of France before the nine-member council’s decision. Opponents of pension reform blocked entrances to some cities, including Rouen to the west and Marseille to the south, and slowed or stopped traffic.
French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne was interrupted while visiting a supermarket outside Paris by a group of people chanting “We don’t want this,” referring to the way she sidestepped lawmakers’ vote to push ahead with pension reform.
The government’s decision to circumvent a parliamentary vote in March by using special constitutional powers increased the anger of opponents of the measure and increased their resolve. Another group was waiting for Ms. Borne in the parking lot.
“We are in a democracy, so everyone can express themselves,” the prime minister told news channel BFM TV. “My priority is to create calm” and address specific concerns, she said. She went to the store to talk about anti-inflation measures.
Demonstrators gather in front of the Paris City Hall, Friday April 14, 2023 in Paris
A man holds a sign calling for a general strike in the city of Rennes in France
Demonstrators gather outside Paris City Hall ahead of the results of a French Constitutional Council ruling on pension reform
The demonstrators carried large banners with slogans calling for strikes and the rollback of reform
French demonstrators light torches in Paris on Friday evening
Demonstrators have already taken to the streets of Paris
On Friday, French unions turned down Macron’s invitation to attend talks with the government over the reforms next week.
“The country must keep moving forward, working and facing the challenges that await us,” Macron said earlier this week.
But hard-line unions and the opposition have warned they will not back down and have urged Macron not to spread the word.
Separately, the Constitutional Council rejected an opposition proposal to organize a citizens’ referendum on pension reform.
The opposition has requested another referendum to be reviewed by the council in early May.
Political observers say widespread dissatisfaction with government reform could have longer-term ramifications, including a possible upsurge for the far right.
Images online show large numbers of people already protesting the verdict in French cities, with hundreds of people taking to the streets of Paris.
Police expect up to 10,000 people to gather in the capital on Friday night, with the presence of several hundred left-wing extremists stoking fears of further vandalism and clashes that have marred recent rallies.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered in front of Paris City Hall and booed the court decision announced on Friday evening.
The offices of the Constitutional Council, a short walk from the Louvre Museum, have been protected with barriers and dozens of riot police stand guard nearby.
The move is likely to infuriate unions and other opponents of the pension plan, including protesters who gathered in cities across France on Friday night when the decision was announced.
The council opposed some other measures in the pension bill, but older age was central to Mr Macron’s plan and the target of protesters’ anger.
Mr. Macron has 15 days to enact the bill.
After the verdict was announced, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said: “The Constitutional Council has decided that the reform is in accordance with our Constitution. The text is at the end of its democratic process. Tonight there is no winner, no loser.’
Members of the Macron government, including Labor Minister Olivier Dussopt, have congratulated the President on the success of the reforms.
Dussop said the law would come into force on September 1 as originally planned, and dismissed calls from unions not to promulgate it amid strong public opposition.
Opinion polls show that a large majority oppose the reform, as well as the fact that the government invoked Article 49.3 of the Constitution, which allowed it to pass the law without a final vote in Parliament, which it might have lost.
The leader of the opposition Socialist party, Olivier Faure, said: “The Constitutional Council has only ruled on the legality of the law, its approval does not mean that it is a just law… The French have been fighting this reform for months, they will be disappointed and the struggle will take other forms.’
A protester holds up a red flare during a demonstration in Toulouse after the court approved key elements of the French president’s unpopular pension reform
Demonstrators display a large sign in a square in Toulouse on Friday
Protesters hold signs and stand on a truck in Nantes with the slogan ‘Nothing is too good for the people’.
Thousands gather in French cities across the country
The law, which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64, is deeply unpopular in France and has sparked massive protests
And Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-left La France Insoumise party, added: “The Constitutional Council’s decision shows that it pays more attention to the needs of the presidential monarchy than to those of the sovereign people. The struggle goes on and must gather its strength.’
Political observers say widespread dissatisfaction with government reform could have longer-term ramifications, including a possible upsurge for the far right.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen wrote on Twitter that “the political fate of pension reform is not sealed” and urged voters to back those who oppose it in the next election so they can scrap it.
Macron says the French will have to work longer or the pension budget will fall into the red by billions of euros every year until the end of the decade.
But the pension system is a cornerstone of France’s prized social protection model, and unions say the money can be found elsewhere, including through higher taxes on the wealthy.
While attention has focused on the retirement age of 62, only 36 percent of French workers retire at that age and a further 36 percent retire earlier, as a minimum of 42 years must be paid into the scheme to be eligible to be able to claim full pension.
That means the normal retirement age for a French worker who started working at age 22 was 64.5, slightly higher than the EU average of 64.3, according to OECD figures published on 2020 data based.