French trade unions gear up for 10th round of protests against pension reform

French trade unions are planning nationwide protests against the government's pension reform for the 10th time on Tuesday, News.Az reports citing Anadolu Agency. 

Intense protests -- some of them violent -- have shaken the country since March 16, after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne decided to use special constitutional powers to force through the controversial plan.

Millions who were protesting this reform since January, are planning a 10th round on Tuesday -- which even pushed President Emmanuel Macron to cancel UK King Charles III's visit to France.

French intelligence expects up to 900,000 protesters, including 100,000 in Paris, on March 28, according to media reports.

Meanwhile, the General Labor Confederation's culture branch on Monday is protesting in front of the Louvre Museum in Paris, blocking entry, broadcaster BFMTV showed.

The museum's administration on Twitter said: "Due to public strikes, the Musée du Louvre is not able to be open this early morning."

Violent groups last week infiltrated the parades in Paris, Bordeaux and Lyon, and engaged in vandalism. They set fire to dumpsters, trash, and building gates, targeted banks and threw bottles at police, according to local media reports.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin last week said that 457 people were arrested on Thursday night across France, 441 police officers were injured, and 933 fires were set to street furniture and trash in Paris.

French Democratic Confederation of Labor trade union leader Laurent Berger on Monday on broadcaster France 2 expressed concern over violence staining the protests.

"I am also preoccupied that the social protest is being drowned in the violence of a few," he added.

News.Az 

You Might Also Like