More protests in France: 46 arrests in Paris

Violent protests broke out again in French cities during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. Thousands took to the streets against the pension reform.

In France, thousands have again protested against the government’s pension reforms Photo: Christophe Ena/dpa

PARIS dpa | Violent protests against the pension reforms that had been passed broke out again in several French cities. According to media reports, 46 people were arrested in Paris on Wednesday night after police officers were attacked with projectiles and demonstrators set garbage cans and scooters on fire. The police used tear gas against some of the approximately 3,500 demonstrators. According to the newspaper, there were protests with thousands of participants Le Parisien also in Lille, Grenoble, Rennes, Nantes and Le Mans. President Emmanuel Macron wants to make public statements in a television interview this Wednesday. He should try to relax the difficult situation.

Already on Tuesday evening he said that anger of the French must be “appeased” after the controversial passage of the law. At the same time, he said the crowd had no legitimacy over the elected officials. There was also displeasure among many people because the strikes in garbage collection and oil depots continued and individual gas stations ran out of fuel.

On Monday evening, almost 300 people were arrested during the violent protests across France. The reform to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 came earlier after the rejection of two by the opposition motions of no confidence been adopted. It is considered one of Macron’s most important projects. Last Thursday, the government decided at the last minute to push the project through without a vote by the National Assembly. There have been repeated strikes and violent protests against the reform in France for weeks.

Another day of action is planned for Thursday. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced that around 12,000 police officers would be deployed, including 5,000 in Paris. This would be the largest contingent since the protests against pension reforms began.

In order to close the impending gap in the pension fund, France’s central government under Macron wants to gradually raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. Currently, the retirement age in France is 62 years. In fact, retirement begins later on average: those who have not paid in long enough to receive a full pension work longer. At the age of 67 there is then a pension without any deductions, regardless of how long it has been paid in – the government wants to keep this, even if the number of years required to pay in for a full pension is to increase more quickly. She wants to raise the monthly minimum pension to around 1,200 euros.