French President Emmanuel Macron has scrapped plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64, as tens of thousands of anti-government activists - many donning yellow vests - returned to the streets of Paris and elsewhere on Saturday to protest the proposed pension reforms, according to the New York Times.
The mood was militant, and the more violent demonstrators once again clashed with the police, even as they sowed a trail of damage through eastern Paris. A bank branch was sacked, and bus shelters smashed and fires set. Unions said 150,000 protesters were in the streets of Paris on Saturday. -NYT
Coup de pied gratuit filmé par @MTGphotographe @davduf #reformedesretraites #greve11janvier #ViolencesPolicieres pic.twitter.com/c46ZVwSgSP
— Capitaine Memes ✊ (@CapitaineCombat) January 11, 2020
Saturday's demonstrations included exchanges between rock-throwing protesters and the police, who used tear gas, water cannons and other crowd control measures as the day wore on. At one point a building was set on fire.
🚨 Charge d'une extrême violence. Beaucoup de blessés #greve9janvier pic.twitter.com/dWNhZyvXEg
— Taha 📷 (@MTGphotographe) January 9, 2020
⚡️EN DIRECT⚡️ #Nantes : Les policiers utilisent deux canons à eau et du gaz lacrymogène devant la préfecture de Nantes et font face à des d'individus radicalisés et violent. #greve11janvier #GiletJaunes #reformesdesretraites #Acte61 #Retraites pic.twitter.com/hE0DyJJDrJ
— FranceNews24 (@FranceNews24) January 11, 2020
The government of France plays a major role in retirement pensions - both providing and guaranteeing funds and overseeing the entire system.
The bid to boost the retirement age infuriated moderate unions Macron relies on, despite his insistence that French citizens need to work longer in order to keep the pension system - which may be facing a $19 billion deficit - financially sound.
In a Saturday letter from Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, the Macron administration said that it would "withdraw" the new age limit, and postpone major decisions on how to keep the system solvent until it can better assess the situation "between now and the end of April."
Macron described it as a "constructive compromise," which French union CFDT applauded. The CGT union called the measure "a smokescreen," however, which protesters agreed with as they took to the streets on Saturday.
Des nouvelles de la liberté de la presse.
— Taha Bouhafs (@T_Bouhafs) January 11, 2020
Tout à l’heure place de la république, je filmais par terre des traces de sang d’un manifestant frappé par la police plus tôt.
Quand un autre policier me menace :
« Filmes moi encore et je te déchire, dégage avec ta caméra ». pic.twitter.com/xByizEPwOM
Right-wing French...