Protests continue in France on the 7th day of the strike

In France, protesters gathered against President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday, the 7th day of pension reform protests.

Police reported that more than about 368,000 protesters took to the streets, while the CGT union said the number was more than 1 million. According to the statement of the Paris police, the number of people participating in the march in Paris is 48,000.

RETIREMENT WILL BE EXTENDED TWO YEARS

A coalition of French unions, maintaining a rare show of unity since the protest movement was launched at the end of January, hopes to keep up to pressure on the government to withdraw the reform, whose key measure is a two-year extension of the retirement age to 64.

The Senate continues to review the reform, and the final text is expected to be voted on in the upper house of Parliament Sunday night.

TEAR SPRAY WAS USED

Protests kicked off in Paris at 2 p.m, with police launching tear gas at Black bloc protesters, who burned trash bins and broke glass billboards.

Demonstrations also took place in other major cities including Lyon, Toulouse and Nice.

Martine Cerasa, 44, one of the protesters, spoke of the change the reform would make in their lives:

"It's been two months that we had been explaining to young people, and they've understood that these reforms will affect our working lives. And it takes away two years from the life expectancy of the most vulnerable people." She finished by saying, "The government does n't want to give in, neither do we."

The result of the opinion polls is that the majority of the people are against the reform plan.

An additional day of nationwide strikes and protests is planned for March 15.

(Reuters)