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France Faces Chaos as Strikes Enter Day Two


Fri 06 Dec 2019 | 04:03 PM
Yara Sameh

France faced more travel chaos and understaffed schools and hospitals on Friday, as the country's largest strike in years entered its second day.

Unions stated that there would be no let-up against Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms until the president backed down.

Moreover, there were cancellations of rush-hour trains into Paris on Friday and 10 out of 16 metro lines were closed while others ran limited services.

Furthermore, traffic jams totaling about 350 km had clogged the roads in and around the capital as commuters took to their vehicles.

"French unions have called for a new day of strikes and demonstrations against the government’s pension reform plans on Tuesday, Dec. 10," a representative of CGT union said on Friday.

Day one

The first day of the Emmanuel Macron’s pension reforms strikes kicked off on Thursday with tens of thousands of transport workers went on strike joined by teachers, doctors, police, firemen and civil servants.

An estimated 806,000 people across France took part in demonstrations.

Smoke and tear gas swirled through the streets of Paris and Nantes as protests turned violent. Trouble broke out near the capital's Place de la Republique when some protesters set a truck trailer on fire.

"About 71 people were taken in for questioning on the sidelines of the protests", the Paris Police Department said.

Paris police chief Didier Lallement revealed that around 6,000 members of the security forces were deployed in the capital alone, with 180 motorbikes used to respond fast to any rioting.

What's the strike about?

Macron wants to implement a signature campaign promise that would see a "universal" retirement system.

The last time France saw this massive protests on 5 December 1995 as people protested against government pension reforms, which lasted for three weeks of total paralysis, forcing the the-then government of Alain Juppé to back down.

The strikes arrives a year from the weekly "yellow vest" protests that have rocked the country.