More strikes and demonstrations against French pension reform

Sausagesare sizzling on open grills; a bass beat is pumping from a nearby float. “A violent desire for happiness” reads a giant red banner. The mood in Paris is festive, despite fears that this protest might yet turn violent. Those who gathered on March 28th, for the tenth one-day national strike against the French government’s decision to raise the minimum pension age from 62 years to 64, vowed not to give up. Many of them were young.“Yes, we are concerned about our pensions,” said Ameline, a 20-year-old law student, who was on her sixth protest. She is willing to retire two years later, but was acting out of “solidarity” with others. Joanna, aged 30, who works as a rubbish collector for the Paris town hall, had been on strike for weeks. She thinks that retirement “at 60 feels right, 64 is too much.” President Emmanuel Macron, Joanna suggested, should come down and try cleaning streets. “I would just like him to understand that the French, Parisians, are tired.”