Streets on fire after controversial raising of retirement age
<p>French Emmanuel Macron has ignited a furious spark in the people of France with controversial new pension reforms - those that would see the country’s pension age raised from 62 to 64. </p>
<p>The changes were reportedly pushed through their parliament without a proper voting process - it has been said that Macron employed “special constitutional powers” to see it through. </p>
<p>Protesters flocked to the streets in response, with over 250 different protests organised nationwide, in a move that has been praised by union leaders. </p>
<p>However, while hundreds of thousands of participants experienced peaceful marches through some of the country’s largest cities, tensions were high in Bordeaux, and the town hall felt the full brunt of it when it was set alight. </p>
<p>While it is not known who was responsible for the fire, it was quickly extinguished. </p>
<p>In Paris, where the majority took part in peaceful demonstrations, violence did rear its head, with a number of clashes between protestors and police officers breaking out - shop windows were broken, street furniture demolished, and fast food establishments attacked. </p>
<p>It has also been reported that while police were the target of various projectiles, they made use of tear gas to push back those responsible for any rioting behaviour. And at Place de l’Opera, the location at which demonstrators concluded their march, the tear gas was back, covering a portion of the area in a haze of fumes. </p>
<p>The official demonstration in Paris - which had drawn people from all over the French social spectrum - was not the only one to take a violent turn, with the cities of Nantes, Rennes, Lorient, and Lyon facing similar fates. </p>
<p>The protests, coupled with strikes and industrial action across the country, disrupted transport and prompted the cancellation of flights, with airport authorities claiming roll-on effects from the chaos. Protestors also succeeded in blocking off Terminal 1 of France’s largest international airport, the Charles de Gaulle airport. </p>
<p>As to why the French had taken this approach to fighting the reforms, one demonstrator in Nantes summed it up by declaring “the street has a legitimacy in France. </p>
<p>“If Mr Macron can't remember this historic reality, I don't know what he is doing here.”</p>
<p>And as another told <em>Reuters</em>, "I oppose this reform and I really oppose the fact that democracy no longer means anything. We're not being represented, and so we're fed up."</p>
<p>"It is by protesting that we will be able to make ourselves heard because all the other ways ... have not allowed us to withdraw this reform," another explained to <em>AFP</em>.</p>
<p>The women on the streets were furious, seeing Macron’s move as one that targeted them in particular, especially those that had been forced to step away from their careers to dedicate their time to raising their children. </p>
<p>As one social worker told <em>The Guardian</em>, “everyone is angry. Everyone thinks this law is unfair, but it particularly penalises women who are expected to produce future generations of the nation, and then find they are punished for doing so.”</p>
<p>“They want to raise it to 64 today. Will it be 66, 67, 68 tomorrow?” a teacher implored. “They tell us life expectancy is longer but are we to work until we collapse and are carted off to the crematorium?”</p>
<p><em>Images: Getty</em></p>
