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Protests Resume in France After Macron Pushes Through Pension Bill


Opposition parties filed two no-confidence motions against President Emmanuel Macron’s government on Friday after his decision to push a widely unpopular pension bill through Parliament without a full vote, escalating a showdown with protesters and labor unions, who have vowed more strikes.

Mr. Macron’s decision, announced by his prime minister on Thursday during a raucous session in the National Assembly, France’s lower house of Parliament, infuriated opponents of the bill, which would push back the legal age of retirement to 64, from 62.

Overnight, violent demonstrations broke out in several French cities, and protesters returned to the streets on Friday.

In Paris, for the second night in a row, thousands of mostly young protesters converged on the Place de la Concorde, across the River Seine from the National Assembly, chanting slogans like “Macron, you are done, the youth is in the street!” As night fell, the air was clouded with smoke from fires lit by protesters and tear gas fired by riot police, who charged into the crowd as protesters threw cobblestones.

“This is about being useful to our country by voting against this unfair and ineffective pension reform,” Bertrand Pancher, the head lawmaker in the independent group, told reporters. “This is about preserving our parliamentary democracy, which has been besmirched, and social democracy, which has been scorned.”

France’s labor unions, who have kept an unusually united front, said that they were more determined then ever, and announced a ninth day of nationwide protests and strikes on March 23.

Among other actions, the C.G.T. said that strikers would shut down an oil refinery in Normandy over the weekend, potentially disrupting fuel deliveries to gas stations, and teachers’ unions said that they would strike next week during an exam period.

“The idea is to keep the political pressure on,” said Étienne Chemin, 30, a programmer who said he took part in many demonstrations against the overhaul. “It was the final straw,” he said of Mr. Macron pushing through the bill.

The gathering was tense but mostly peaceful until small clashes erupted. The police fired tear gas to disperse protesters who were pulling off metal slabs protecting a podium.

Lawmakers opposed to Mr. Macron are exploring other legal avenues for thwarting his plans, but it is very uncertain that any would work. Some have started a procedure that enables lawmakers to initiate a referendum — an extremely long and complex process that has never come to fruition before.

Others have vowed to challenge the new pension law, if approved, before the Constitutional Council, a body that reviews legislation to ensure it complies with the French Constitution. But it is unclear how the council would ultimately rule, or which parts of the law it might strike down. So far, the government has expressed confidence that the core of the law would stand.

Still, Boris Vallaud, a top Socialist lawmaker, said on Thursday that all options were on the table to halt the pension changes.

“We will do everything in our power,” he said.

Constant Méheut contributed reporting.



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