France: Massive protests against the retirement system threaten to paralyze the country

France is witnessing massive demonstrations on Tuesday, March 7, against the pension reform proposed by President Emmanuel Macron, while unions expect to “paralyze” the country through strikes and demonstrations.

“I call on the employees of this country, I call on citizens and retirees to demonstrate massively,” said the Secretary General of the reformist union, Laurent Berger, on Monday. “The President of the Republic cannot continue to ignore” our action, he said.

This is the sixth day of movement since January 19 against reforming the retirement system. Opposition is concentrated in particular on a clause in this reform that provides for raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 years.

For weeks, unions have increased pressure and declared that the country should prepare to live in a “state of paralysis” for 24 hours, calling for massive demonstrations and renewable strikes in strategic sectors in an attempt to force the government to withdraw the project.

According to a police source, the number of protesters is expected to be between 1.1 and 1.4 million across the country.

Truck drivers have been posting barricades since Monday morning, and teachers will renew their strike.

Production cuts continue in the electrical sector, which began moving on Friday.

Three of the four LNG terminals that allow gas to be imported into France have stopped working for “seven days,” the anti-reform General Labor Confederation said Monday evening.

Decommissioning of these stations will suspend the supply of gas to the GRT gas distribution network, unloading of LNG carriers and filling of LNG tanks.

The national railway company and the company that runs the Paris metro network warned that the lines’ trips would be severely affected on Tuesday and that movement would continue until at least Wednesday.