03:25France: 'Starting to look scary' - Police use tear gas, flash-bang grenades as pension reform protests continue in Paris
Police fired tear gas canisters and used flash-bang grenades as demonstrators continued to protest against the government’s pension reforms in Paris on Wednesday.
Footage features overturned rubbish bins and burning debris on the street, with protesters running and officers seen making detentions.
"One policeman per street, not even one policeman, three policemen per street. It's actually starting to look scary. All that is missing is that Macron declares to take into account article 16 of the constitution, that's good, it will be the apocalypse. We are very afraid of that," one of the protesters said.
On Monday, French lawmakers narrowly rejected a no-confidence motion in the government by just nine votes. A second, introduced by the right-wing 'National Rally', also failed to pass by a much larger margin.
The motions were put forward after the government decided to force its plan to raise the retirement age, from 62 to 64, through the National Assembly without a vote last Thursday.
While it passed in the upper house, President Emmanuel Macron’s administration used the executive power with numbers in the lower house making the vote too close to call.
Protests have taken place since the changes were announced earlier this year, and have intensified across the country in the past few days.
03:25Police fired tear gas canisters and used flash-bang grenades as demonstrators continued to protest against the government’s pension reforms in Paris on Wednesday.
Footage features overturned rubbish bins and burning debris on the street, with protesters running and officers seen making detentions.
"One policeman per street, not even one policeman, three policemen per street. It's actually starting to look scary. All that is missing is that Macron declares to take into account article 16 of the constitution, that's good, it will be the apocalypse. We are very afraid of that," one of the protesters said.
On Monday, French lawmakers narrowly rejected a no-confidence motion in the government by just nine votes. A second, introduced by the right-wing 'National Rally', also failed to pass by a much larger margin.
The motions were put forward after the government decided to force its plan to raise the retirement age, from 62 to 64, through the National Assembly without a vote last Thursday.
While it passed in the upper house, President Emmanuel Macron’s administration used the executive power with numbers in the lower house making the vote too close to call.
Protests have taken place since the changes were announced earlier this year, and have intensified across the country in the past few days.