More than a million people took to the streets across France to protest the Macron government’s plans to reform the pension system.
The most contentious of which is a proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Macron insists that the reform is necessary to revive a dormant system, but some government experts say the pension system is in relatively good shape and would likely return to a balanced budget even without reforms.
According to the interior ministry, 1.2 million people protested across France, with 80,000 of them in Paris.
However, union organizers estimated the number at 2 million, with 400,000 protesting in Paris.
The Macron administration’s plans to reform the mass protests were also witnessed in cities such as Lyon, Marseilles, Montpellier, Nantes, and on the French island of Corsica.
Macron, who was in Spain on Thursday, told a press conference that the government was determined to push the reform forward.
On the sidelines of the protest, members of the anarchist Black Bloc movement threw garbage bins, bottles, and smoke bombs at police, leading to the arrest of more than a dozen people.
On January 31, unions have called for new strikes and protests.
