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PARIS. – French protesters launched a new push Tuesday to pressure President Emmanuel Macron into dropping a pension reform plan, with hundreds of thousands taking to the streets in bigger crowds than those seen on the previous day of rallies on January 19.

Union-led protesters came out for mass demonstrations for the second time in less than two weeks, challenging Macron’s plan to raise the age of retirement from 62 to 64, a flagship reform of his second mandate.

Half a million people were protesting on Tuesday afternoon in Paris alone, the main CGT union said, higher than the figure of 400 000 it gave for the last day of rallies on January 19.

The CGT said 2.8 million were protesting nationwide. The French police put the figure at more than 1.2 million.

Polls show a majority of the French oppose the president’s measures – and analysts say maintaining public support for the strikes will be crucial to unions’ chances of forcing a U-turn. 

A police source said the authorities were bracing for up to 1.2 million people to take to the streets nationwide, which would exceed the 1.1 million who came out on January 19.

The last time Macron wanted to change the pensions system, during the winter of 2019-2020, France saw its biggest strikes since 1968. Covid soon made that upheaval seem quaint, and prompted Macron to shelve his plans. – France24.com