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Protests erupt in France over Emmanuel Macron’s retirement age push
Updated On: 18 March, 2023 08:22 AM IST | Paris | Agencies
Trade unions that had organized strikes and marches against the higher retirement age said more rallies and protest marches will take place

A protester holds a placard reading “I will be dead before I retire” during a demonstration a day after the French government pushed a pensions reform through parliament without a vote, using the article 49.3 of the constitution, in Rennes Friday. Pic/AFP
Protesters disrupted traffic in Paris on Friday as angry critics, political opponents and labor unions around France blasted President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to force a bill raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 through parliament without a vote. Opposition parties were expected to start procedures later Friday for a no-confidence vote on the government led by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne. The vote would likely take place early next week.
Macron ordered Borne on Thursday to make use of a special constitutional power to push the highly unpopular pension bill through without a vote in the National Assembly, France’s lower house of parliament. His calculated risk infuriated opposition lawmakers, many citizens and unions. Thousands gathered in protest Thursday at the Place de la Concorde, which faces the National Assembly building. As night fell, police officers charged the demonstrators in waves to clear the Place. Small groups then moved through nearby streets in the chic Champs-Elysees neighborhood,. setting street fires.
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