The spontaneous protest against pension reform in Paris has turned violent, as clashes have erupted between protesters and police officers, Sputnik’s correspondent reports from the scene. The police have used tear gas to disperse the crowd.
The police intervened when radicals from the “black bloc” movement began smashing bank and store windows. They also threw stones and paint cans at law enforcement officers.
Earlier in the day, protesters gathered in the central Paris at the Gare de Lyon railway station at the call of General Confederation of Labor and Solidarity trade unions. The crowd consisting of railway and trade union workers piled up wooden pallets and stated they intended to hold a "surprise action," the Sputnik correspondent reported.
Later, the protesters managed to occupy a building owned by the LVMH (LVMH Louis Vuitton - Moet Hennessy ) luxury products maker in the 8th District of Paris. There, they unfolded a banner saying "The reform to the trash, we will not give up!" and shouting "Strike, block, Macron get out!" and setting hand flares alight.
Protesters even blocked the Constitutional Council building with a trash bin barricade that was taken apart shortly afterwards. Later, French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin issued a ban on any demonstrations near the Council.
Mass protests across the country have started again in France on the eve of the Constitutional Council's final decision on the pension reform. On April 14, the body will vote on whether the bill complies with current national legislation. If it is approved, the law will go into effect on September 1.
On March 16, French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced that the government had adopted a law on raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 by invoking Article 49.3 of the constitution, which allowed the bill to get passed without parliamentary approval. The decision sparked a strong backlash, prompting people to take to the streets across the country.