Widespread protest against raising the retirement age begins in Paris

PARIS, January 19 – RIA Novosti, Anastasia Ivanova. A large-scale demonstration against pension reform is taking place in Paris on Thursday, with tens of thousands of people taking part, an RIA Novosti correspondent reported from the scene.

Demonstrations are taking place across France on Thursday amid the nationwide strike against pension reform.

Eight leading French unions participate in it (CFDT, CGT, FO, CFE-CGC, CFTC, Unsa, Solidaires, FSU).

According to the observations of an RIA Novosti correspondent, tens of thousands of people are in a large-scale protest in Paris. The action started in Republic Square after 14:00 local time (16:00 Moscow time). The column will head towards Place de la Nation. Traffic was blocked along the action route.

Public order at the demonstrations is maintained by reinforced police and gendarmerie patrols. Representatives of various sectors, supporters of the “yellow vests” movement and black bloc radicals are participating in the action.

The strike caused major disruptions to ground transport, metro, suburban and regional trains in Paris. Most of the metropolitan metro lines are closed. Orly airport cancels one out of every five flights.

“We are against pension reform, inflation and low purchasing power. We want to fight against the capitalism that has prevailed in the country since President Emmanuel Macron came to power… The French have been in trouble for too long. One of the protesters is someone who supports the “yellow vests” movement, ” It’s getting harder and harder for the French to feed themselves and provide basic products like butter and mustard in a crisis environment,” he said in an interview with the agency.

On January 10, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Born presented the draft of the controversial pension reform the government plans to adopt in 2023. According to him, the French authorities will begin to increase the retirement age in the country by three months a year from September 1, 2023, thereby reaching the age of 64 by 2030.

According to media reports, there will be 221 demonstrations across France, with the biggest shows expected to be in Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse, Lisle and Nantes. Up to 80,000 people can protest in the French capital, including up to 400 radicals. In this context, it was decided to send the gendarmes there as reinforcements. In total, between 550 and 750 thousand demonstrators can participate in demonstrations across the country.