Sawt Falasteen - France gripped by strikes, protests against pension reform

Around 400,000 people marched in the capital against President Emmanuel Macron's plan to extend the retirement age, and over two million in all of France, according to the hard-left CGT union.

Around the Bastille area of Paris, radical demonstrators hurled bottles, bins and smoke grenades at police who responded with tear gas and charged to disperse the troublemakers, according to AFP journalists at the scene.

Some 30 people were arrested, mostly members of a 1,000-strong radical group called "Black Blocs" who wore masks, helmets and black clothes, police said, adding they had managed to split off the group from the main demonstration.

No major violent incidents were reported elsewhere in France.

Presented by Macron's government last week, the pensions plan would raise the retirement age for most from 62 -- among the lowest in the EU -- to 64 and would increase the years of contributions required for a full pension.

- 'Die on the job' -

France's trade unions had called for a mass mobilisation, the first time they have united since 12 years ago, when the retirement age was hiked to 62 from 60.

Police said earlier they had prepared for 550,000 to 750,000 protesters in all of France, including up to 80,000 in the capital.

Macron, speaking from a French-Spanish summit in Barcelona, defended what he called a "fair and responsible reform".

But demonstrators disagreed, including Hamidou, 43, who joined the protest in central Paris.

"Macron wants us to die on the job," he said. "We get up very early. Some colleagues wake up at 3 am. Working until 64 is too much."

Nearby, 15-year-old Charlie Perrin decried an ever-retreating retirement age.

"The way things are going, we'll be almost unable to walk or live by the time we're given the right to retire," she said.

Almost one public-sector worker in three was on strike by midday, the government estimated.

- Reform 'unjust' -

In the northwestern region of Brittany, carpenter and roofer Laurent Quere, 42, said he was fiercely opposed to having to work longer.

"What client in their right mind would employ us on a work site aged 64?" he said.

The strikes disrupted public transport in the capital, with one metro line closed and others running less frequently than usual, and many trains were cancelled throughout France.

Many parents were forced to look after their children as around 40 percent of primary school teachers and more than 30 percent in the secondary system walked out, according to official estimates.

Unions put the strike participation much higher, at 70 and 65 percent respectively.

Strikers at state-owned energy provider EDF said they had lowered electricity output by 7,000 megawatts, while grid operator RTE put the figure at 5,000 MW -- enough to power two cities the size of Paris.

But the CGT union said the reduction would have "no impact on users".

CGT chief Philippe Martinez told broadcaster Public Senat earlier Thursday the pension reform "bundles together everyone's dissatisfaction" with the government. "We all agree that the reform is unjust."

With Paris metros and buses in disarray, basketball fans were expected to encounter trouble as they try to reach the sold-out NBA Paris Game between the Detroit Pistons and Chicago Bulls in the northeast of the city in the evening.

- Two-thirds opposed -

Opinion polls show that around two-thirds of French people oppose raising the retirement age, a move that comes amid high inflation and with the country still recovering from the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Macron's last attempt at pension reform in 2019, aborted a year later when Covid-19 hit Europe, prompted the longest strike on the Paris transport network in three decades.

But unions are suspicious of the overhaul, eager to protect those who started working at a young age or have been toiling in physically demanding jobs.

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S.Barghouti--SF-PST