PARIS: Hundreds of thousands of people demonstrated across France on Saturday seeking to keep up pressure on the government over its pension reform plans, including a move to raise the retirement age to 64 from 62.

After three days of nationwide strikes since the start of the year, unions are hoping to match a mass turnout from Jan 19 when more than a million people marched in opposition to the plans.

“If they’re not able to listen to what’s happening on the streets, and are not able to realise what is happening with the people, well they shouldn’t be surprised that it blows up at some point,” Delphine Maisonneuve, a 43-year-old nurse said as a protest in Paris kicked off.

The French spend the largest number of years in retirement among OECD countries — a benefit which, opinion polls show, a substantial majority of people are reluctant to give up. President Emmanuel Macron says the reform is “vital” to ensuring the viability of the pension system. Early estimates showed that numbers had increased in Paris by about 20pc from the last protest on Tuesday, newspaper Le Figaro reported.

Unions were hoping for a huge turnout for the first weekend protests since the movement began and to draw people from all ages and backgrounds to show the government that the anger against the reform runs deep.

In the central western city of Tours where the turnout appeared substantially higher than in mid-January, 40-year-old fireman Anthony Chauveau said that opposing the reform was crucial because the difficulties of his job were simply not being taken into consideration.

“They are telling us that we will need to work two more years... our life expectancy is lower than the majority of workers,” he said.

The peaceful protests in Paris were partly marred by some minor clashes. A car and some rubbish bins were set on fire and police forces used teargas and stun grenades in their attempt to disperse some of the more radical elements in the protests.

In a joint statement ahead of Saturday’s marches all the main unions called for the government to withdraw the bill.

They warned that they would seek to bring France to a standstill from March 7 if their demands were not met. A strike is already scheduled for Feb 16.

“If the government continues to remain deaf then the inter-union grouping will call for France to be shut down,” they said ahead of Saturday’s marches.

The protests are the first on a weekend, when workers do not need to strike or take time off.

They follow the first week of debate on the pension legislation in parliament.

The opposition has suggested thousands of amendments to complicate the debate and ultimately try to force the government to pass the bill without a parliamentary vote and through decree, a move that could potentially sour the rest of Macron’s mandate.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2023