Sawt Falasteen - Mass rallies and strikes in France over Macron's pension reform

Police used teargas in Paris and minor clashes also took place in the western city of Nantes, but the more than 260 union-organised rallies across the country were mostly peaceful.

Labour leaders had pledged to bring France "to a standstill" on the biggest day of action in a series of stoppages this year -- a goal that proved beyond their reach judging by the busy roads of major cities.

Only one in five regional and high-speed trains were running, however, and the Paris metro system was operating with a skeletal schedule.

"The government has to take (resistance) into account when there are so many people in the street, when they're having so much trouble explaining and passing their reform," CFDT union chief Laurent Berger said as she stood at the head of the Paris rally.

But Macron, 45, shows no sign of backing down over a reform he has championed since coming to power in 2017 and which he views as essential to cutting pension system deficits forecast for the coming decades.

Even though Tuesday's demonstrations could end up being some of the biggest in decades, analysts see the centrist as determined to press ahead, with parliament set to vote on the draft legislation as early as next week.

"Even those leading the opposition movement, I'm not sure that they believe in it," Jerome Jaffre, a political analyst at the CEVIPOF research institute in Paris, told LCI television on Monday.

- U-turn? -

Speeches on Tuesday by Macron's political opponents and union leaders sought to convince voters that massive street protests could force the government into a U-turn, a regular feature of French democracy.

"On the one hand there's (Macron's) will, on the other the will of the people," hard-left presidential candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon told a demonstration in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille.

"Who should have the last word? Of course it should be the people," he added, calling for fresh elections or a referendum on the changes.

Police were expecting 1.1 to 1.4 million people to demonstrate, with estimates from the interior minister and the unions expected later in the day.

Although around two in three people are against the reform, around the same number believe it will be enacted, according to a poll by the Elabe survey group published on Monday.

Most people support the protests and view the inconvenience as justified, polls also show.

Ali Toure, a 28-year-old construction worker, was waiting for a delayed train north of Paris on Tuesday morning, but said it was "no big deal" if he arrived late to work for a month.

"They're right to be striking. Manual labour is hard," he said.

A blockade of oil refineries, underway since Tuesday morning, has the potential to cause severe disruption if it continues in the weeks ahead.

Many street cleaners have also walked off the job, while around a third of teachers stopped work on Tuesday, according to education ministry figures.

- 'Work longer' -

The government argues that raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, abolishing privileges enjoyed by employees in some sectors, and stiffening the requirements for a full pension are required to balance the pension system.

France lags most of its European neighbours, which have hiked the retirement age to 65 or above.

Its spending on pensions is the third highest among industrialised countries, at the equivalent of 14.5 percent of GDP, according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

"If we want to keep this system going, we need to work longer," Macron said last month.

But unions contest that conclusion and say small increases in contributions could keep it solvent.

They also argue that the proposed measures are unfair and would disproportionately affect low-skilled workers who start their careers early, as well as women.

The bill is now being debated in the upper house senate, with a vote by both houses of parliament expected by the middle of the month or by March 26 at the latest.

Union leaders are set to meet Tuesday evening to decide on their next moves.

burs-adp/ah/pvh

S.Abdullah--SF-PST