As clashes broke out with the police in Paris, more than a million French people demonstrated today (Thursday) against the pension reform law, in the latest mobilization on the eve of a decisive decision of the Constitutional Council on this project.
And the French unions said that more than a million protesters took to the streets today across the country, including 400,000 demonstrators in Paris alone, confirming that 22 people were injured in clashes with the police in Paris and Lyon.
The unions decided to organize the 12th show of force in three months, before Friday's decision of the members of the Constitutional Council who will announce whether they will endorse or reject, in part or in whole, the reform, which is considered an important change and provides for raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
French President Emmanuel Macron of the Netherlands said: This decision could close a path and clarify all the questions raised before announcing that he would propose, in a consensual spirit, a meeting with the social partners.
Dialogue with the unions has stagnated since the beginning of the crisis, and the talks took place in an atmosphere of tension in recent weeks between the head of state and union leaders, especially the head of the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT) Laurent Berger.
The Ministry of the Interior had expected between 400,000 and 600,000 people to take to the streets in France, compared to 570,000 on April 6, and 740,000 on March 28.
After the government forcibly passed the law on March 20 based on a constitutional text that allows the adoption of the project without a vote, the decision of the Constitutional Council (Friday) will be the last step before the text is issued and enters into force, and Macron wants to start implementing it by the end of this year.
Okaz (Jeddah) @okaz_online