Paris: Angry citizens have rallied in the capital and other cities over the approval of French President Emmanuel Macron’s controversial pension reforms, and clashes between police and hundreds of thousands of protesters continue in places.
French media cited Interior Ministry figures as saying the number of protesters across the country had reached 782,000, while local unions put the figure at more than 2 million. Apart from this, the police also fired tear gas on the protestors.
Another round of nationwide protests began in France on May 1, with 291 protesters detained and at least 108 police officers injured, according to official figures.
On the other hand, the police have been authorized to use drones equipped with cameras to monitor the crowds at the protests. Human rights organizations have filed a complaint against the move, saying the use of drones in this way is a violation of fundamental rights.
French President Macron insists the proposed changes, which include raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, were needed to reform a moribund system. But some of the government’s own experts have said that the pension system is still good and does not need to be changed.
Public anger over proposed changes to the pension law grew when the government pushed through Article 49.3 to pass the reforms through parliament without a vote in March.
(function(d, s, id){
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) {return;}
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.3&appId=770767426360150”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.7”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));