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Rioters threatened the home of French president Emmanuel Macron tonight after he bypassed parliament to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
Thousands took to the streets across France to express their fury at the measure on Thursday, setting fires to property and fighting the police.
Demonstrations in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Nante were triggered by Macron’s government using a controversial constitutional mechanism to crash a bill through the National Assembly to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The Senate adopted the bill earlier on Thursday morning, but misgivings in the ruling party and reluctance by right-wing opposition MPs to side with Macron meant the government risked losing a vote in the lower house and instead chose to use article 49.3 of the constitution.
The government now faces motions of no confidence as opposition politicians say France is on the edge of a ‘democratic breakdown’.
French police forces face protesters as clashes erupt on Place de la Concorde square, facing the French Parliament (National Assembly) in Paris
Firefighters fought to tackle blazes set in piles of trash by protestors after a strike that’s left the streets filled with rubbish
French riot police attempted to clear the square of protestors but said no attempt to enter the Elysee Palace had been made
A protestor tries to kick a fuming tear gas pellet back towards riot police as they work to move demonstrators on
A man tries to extinguish a pallet fire near his home in central Paris after thousands hit the streets to protest
‘A group of rioters got away from the police and started marching towards the Elysee Palace’ said an eyewitness.
‘They wanted to get to Macron, to tell him what they think of his new measures.’
Officers finally responded by firing tear gas rounds and keeping the crowd back.
A police spokesman said there was no intrusion at the Elysee, which is Mr Macron’s official home.
The worst trouble was around the nearby Place de la Concorde, the largest square in Paris, which is just across the River Seine from the National Assembly.
Thousands of riot police moved to clear it at around 8.30pm, prompting the protesters to disappear down side streets.
A water cannon was used to put out a fire that had been lit in the main square before police ringed in protestors with shields and batons.
French President Emmanuel Macron (pictured) rammed a controversial pension reform through parliament without a vote
Police clash with protestors in the shadow of the famous Eiffel Tower in central Paris as demonstrations continued into the evening
Protestors add to a burning pile of rubbish in Nantes, western France as riots continued into the night
Protesters march during a demonstration in Marseille, southern France, on Thursday, in response to the French government’s actions
Flares and banners being used by protestors in Marseille, southern France, as they demonstrate against raising the retirement age
A protestor burns a piece of wood that reads ‘Macron’s Butcher’ in central Paris during riots on Thursday
A protestor holding a burning flare stands in protest in the square near the home of the French President as police try to clear the demonstration
Politicians sought to explain the controversial move earlier on Thursday as protests became louder.
‘We can’t take the risk of seeing 175 hours of parliamentary debate come to nothing,’ Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told MPs.
Borne was greeted by boos and jeers as she arrived in the National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, to announce that she would invoke article 49.3 of the constitution to skip a vote on the reform measures.
Demonstrators shelter in Nantes, western France, as protests erupt across the country in response to the government forcing through a bill
Protesters face off with riot police as they demonstrate near the National Assembly after the vote on the government’s proposed pension reform law
A motor scooter burning in Paris, having been set alight by protestors in France
Smoke threatens to cloud out the Eiffel Tower as protests rage on the other bank of the Seine, near the French parliament
A destroyed motor scooter and burnt household waste containers following a demonstration in Paris
The session was suspended for two minutes after left-wing lawmakers singing the national anthem prevented Borne from speaking. Some held placards reading ‘No to 64 years’.
When the session resumed, Borne took the floor but her speech was largely drowned out by the same boos and chants.
Trade unions and political analysts had warned beforehand that passing the legislation by decree, using the controversial article 49.3 of the constitution, risked radicalising opponents and would deprive the government of democratic legitimacy.
‘It’s a total failure for the government,’ far-right leader Marine Le Pen told reporters afterwards, adding that Borne should resign.
‘From the beginning the government fooled itself into thinking it had a majority,’ she said.
A police officer wearing riot gear fires a tear gas pellet in Lille, northern France during widespread riots on Thursday
A protester gestures next to burning waste containers during a demonstration in Paris on Thursday
Firefighters try to control a fire near the Place de la Concorde in central Paris following widespread unrest
Firefighters tackle blazes in the streets of central Paris after protestors began to set uncollected rubbish on fire
Riot police moved in with tear gas and water cannons on Thursday evening as protestors demonstrated on the Place de la Concorde
Thousands gathered to express their displeasure over the raising of the retirement age from 62 to 64
A protestor makes a rude signal as riot police move in to clear protestors from the square on Thursday evening
Mathilde Panot, head of the Leftist France Unbowed group, said using the constitutional powers meant there was ‘no legitimacy for this bill’ and marked a worrying ‘authoritarian turning point’.
Renegade Republican Aurélien Pradel said the decision to bypass a vote showed that France is on the verge of a ‘democratic breakdown’.
Polls show that two thirds of French people oppose the pension reform.
‘When a president has no majority in the country, no majority in the National Assembly, he must withdraw his bill,’ said Socialist Party chief Olivier Faure.
Charles de Courson, an independent MP, said: ‘The government’s use of the 49.3 procedure reflects the failure of this presidential minority.
‘They are not just a minority in the National Assembly, they are a minority in the whole country, but we are in a democracy.’
And Fabien Roussel, the head of the Communist party said Mr Macron was ‘not worthy of our Fifth Republic.’
The government had also insisted that it did not want to use article 49.3, which is viewed by critics as undemocratic.
The government is now set to face a confidence vote in the next 24 hours which could lead it to fall. Le Pen said her far-right party would file such a motion.
After trying and failing to push through pension reform during his first term, Macron returned to the issue while campaigning for re-election last April.
He defeated Le Pen running on a pro-business platform that promised to lower unemployment and make the French ‘work more’ in order to finance the country’s social security system.
Far-right leader Marine Le Pen (pictured) described the move as a ‘total failure of the government’
Trade unions and political analysts had warned beforehand that passing the legislation by decree, using the controversial article 49.3 of the constitution, risked radicalising opponents
The government is set to face a confidence vote in the next 24 hours which could lead it to fall. A woman holds a sign that says ’64: No is No’ during protests in Paris (in Lille on Wednesday)
Pallets burn at the Concorde square in Paris on Thursday as protestors angrily demonstrate against the pension reforms
‘You cannot play with the future of the country,’ he told the cabinet Thursday morning as he justified the move, according to a participant at the meeting.
But political analysts say his mandate is weak and his party lost its parliamentary majority in elections in June which saw the far-right become the biggest opposition party.
Despite warnings from allies about the timing of the pension reform so soon after the Covid-19 pandemic and in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, the 45-year-old has pressed ahead.
Protestors have also gathered at the Capitole de Toulouse in the southern French city to express anger over raising the retirement age
A protester lights a flare on the square of the Capitole de Toulouse during a demonstration against the pension reform
Riot police create barricades with shields to try to control the thousands-strong protest in central Paris
Fireworks have been set off in Lyon by demonstrators, who have also been lighting fires and flares
Protestors clash with riot police in Nantes. The government’s biggest fear has been re-igniting violent anti-government demonstrations
The government’s biggest fear has been re-igniting violent anti-government demonstrations, with memories still fresh of the 2018 revolt by so-called ‘Yellow Vest’ protesters who took to the streets to denounce Macron’s policies and governing style.
Trains, schools, public services and ports have been affected by strikes over the last six weeks, while some of the biggest protests in decades have taken place.
An estimated 1.28 million people hit the streets on March 7 to demonstrate.
A rolling strike by municipal garbage collectors in Paris has also seen around 7,000 tonnes of uncollected trash pile up in the streets, attracting rats and dismaying tourists.
The political implications of forcing through a reform opposed by most of the population are uncertain for Macron and the country at large (a protestor climbs a traffic light on Thursday)
A rolling strike by municipal garbage collectors in Paris has also seen around 7,000 tonnes of uncollected trash pile up in the streets (protests on Thursday)
Trains, schools, public services and ports have been affected by strikes over the last six weeks, while some of the biggest protests in decades have taken place
Binmen have been on strike causing garbage to go uncollected as it lines the streets smelling of rotting food
Protestors threw objects at police officers and set fire to food in trolleys during a demonstration in Lyon, central France, on Tuesday
The strike has been extended until next Monday, with the prospect of serious public health problems leading to growing calls for authorities to intervene.
Laurent Berger, head of the moderate CFDT union, said there would be new strikes and protests after Macron’s move and announced unions would meet late Thursday.
The head of the hardline CGT union Philippe Martinez said strikes and protests had to now intensify, adding the forcing through of the law ‘must find a response in line with this show of contempt towards the people’.
The government has argued that raising the retirement age, scrapping privileges for some public sector workers and toughening criteria for a full pension are needed to prevent major deficits building up.
The change would also bring France into line with its European neighbours, most of which have raised the retirement age to 65 or above.
Trade unions and other critics say the reform will penalise low-income people in manual jobs who tend to start their careers early, forcing them to work longer than graduates who are less affected by the changes.
The political implications of forcing through a reform opposed by most of the population are uncertain for Macron and the country at large.
Martinez warned this week that forcing the legislation through without a vote would amount to ‘giving the keys of the Elysee’ to Le Pen for the next presidential election in 2027.
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