A symbolic milestone of 10,000 tonnes of uncollected garbage on the city streets was reached on Friday afternoon, according to Le Figaro newspaper.
The prefecture authorities warned of growing volumes of trash piled up in Paris, saying that it could increase sanitary risks for residents and be conducive to the spread of various diseases, the newspaper added.
The strike of the cleaners against the pension reform started on March 7 and was initially planned to last for a week, but it was then extended at least until March 20.
On Wednesday, the French government asked Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to order street cleaners to stop protesting against the pension reform and resume their work. Hidalgo refused to do so, saying that the workers had a right to protest and the one acceptable way forward would be to launch a public dialogue instead of forcing striking workers to resume work. Paris police chief Laurent Nunez, on the other hand, ordered 400 street cleaners get back to work later that day, but they still could not cope with increasing amounts of trash.
On Thursday, the French government adopted a law on raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years without holding a final vote in the parliament, triggering Article 49.3 of the constitution, which allows the government to adopt legislation with no need for a parliamentary vote. The eighth nationwide demonstration against the reform was already on at the time when the law was adopted. Protests in Paris continued on Friday.