03:48France: Violence erupts in Paris as protesters rally against pension reform
Clashes erupted between riot police and demonstrators in Paris on Tuesday as thousands joined a union rally against the government’s new pension reform.
Footage shows hundreds of riot police using tear gas and stun grenades to quell the unrest as protesters hurled paving stones and set bins on fire. A small group were seen breaking into a bank.
“Today the mobilisation of the labour world is huge, and certainly unprecedented since the Second World War in terms of the number of people taking to the streets," said Laurent Berger, leader of the CFDT union.
France has seen a large scale of strikes organised by workers’ unions since January, following the government’s plan to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030.
Ministers reportedly say the changes will balance the deficit in the system caused by longer life expectancy.
France, along with a handful of other EU countries, has the lowest pension age in Europe, spending nearly 14 per cent of its economic output on them.
The last reform, in 2011, raised the retirement age from 60 to 62.
03:48Clashes erupted between riot police and demonstrators in Paris on Tuesday as thousands joined a union rally against the government’s new pension reform.
Footage shows hundreds of riot police using tear gas and stun grenades to quell the unrest as protesters hurled paving stones and set bins on fire. A small group were seen breaking into a bank.
“Today the mobilisation of the labour world is huge, and certainly unprecedented since the Second World War in terms of the number of people taking to the streets," said Laurent Berger, leader of the CFDT union.
France has seen a large scale of strikes organised by workers’ unions since January, following the government’s plan to increase the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030.
Ministers reportedly say the changes will balance the deficit in the system caused by longer life expectancy.
France, along with a handful of other EU countries, has the lowest pension age in Europe, spending nearly 14 per cent of its economic output on them.
The last reform, in 2011, raised the retirement age from 60 to 62.