PARIS (Portal) – Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to strike and demonstrate in France on Thursday after President Emmanuel Macron vowed to push ahead with a deeply unpopular pension reform despite escalating anger across the country.
Protests against the law – which raises the retirement age by two years to 64 – have drawn large crowds at union-organized rallies since January.
Unions said Thursday’s ninth nationwide day of action will draw huge crowds against what they called “contempt” and “lies” by Macron.
Macron drew an angry backlash from unions and opposition parties on Wednesday when he dismissed their calls for him to heed mounting popular anger.
“The best answer we can give the President is that millions of people are on strike and in the streets,” said Philippe Martinez, leader of the hard-line CGT union.
Thursday’s strike will cause serious disruption to trains, airports will also be hit and teachers in many occupations will be out of work, while strikes continue at oil depots and amid garbage collection sites.
Most protests have been peaceful, but anger has been mounting since the government pushed the law through parliament without a vote last week.
In the past seven nights, there have been spontaneous demonstrations in Paris and other cities, with garbage cans set on fire and scuffles with the police.
On Wednesday, Macron stuck to his statement that the new law is necessary and will come into force later this year.
He dismissed calls to sack his Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who was at the forefront of pension reform, and tried to turn the tide by mandating her to expand her parliamentary majority and get back to work with the unions.
“He added more explosives to an already well-lit inferno,” said Socialist Party leader Olivier Faure.
The latest wave of protests is the biggest challenge to the president’s authority since the Yellow Vests revolt four years ago. Polls show that a large majority of French people oppose the pension law and the government’s decision to pass it through parliament without a vote.
Reporting by John Irish; Editing by David Gregorio
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