Paris protesters clash with police over pension reform
Officers fire teargas to disperse groups near Pompidou Centre and other tourist sites
Officers fire teargas to disperse groups near Pompidou Centre and other tourist sites
French trade unions have spearheaded nationwide strikes since early December in an outcry over Emmanuel Macron’s pensions overhaul, disrupting schools, railways and roads, and lending support to regular protests.
The gilets jaunes, an anti-government movement that sprung up a year ago as a backlash against the high cost of living, joined a rally on Saturday of several thousand people against the pensions shakeup.
Police used teargas against protesters near tourist hotspots including the Pompidou Centre, where some demonstrators had tried to erect barricades and set fire to them.
Clashes also broke out at other points of the demonstration.
Clashes also broke out at other points of the demonstration.
Jerome Rodrigues, a prominent figure in the gilets jaunes or “yellow vest” movement, was hurt in the eye although it was not immediately clear how he had sustained the injury. Rodrigues was blinded in the same eye earlier this year during another demonstration.
France’s transport network remained disrupted across the country and on the last weekend of the year rail and metro workers in Paris have so far insisted they will keep pressure on the French president to abandon his overhaul.
“We’re ready to hold for quite a while,” said Laurent Djebali, a representative of the metro branch of the Unsa union as he joined the march.
Macron has touted his reform as conducive to a fairer system that will encourage workers to stay in the labour force until 64 instead of 62 and balance the pension budget while eliminating many special regimes.
