PARIS >> Bolstered French police forces clashed with demonstrators in numerous cities Tuesday as hundred of thousands of marchers protested President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular retirement reform.
Security was ramped up for the 10th round of protest marches since January after the government warned that some demonstrators intended “to destroy, to injure and to kill.” The Interior Ministry put the number of demonstrators nationwide at 740,000, down from more than 1 million five days ago when protesters voiced their rage at Macron’s order to ram the bill raising France’s legal retirement age from 62 to 64 through parliament without a vote. The Paris police counted 93,000 in Paris compared with 119,000 on Thursday.
In a bid to keep up pressure on the government to simply withdraw its retirement measure, unions organizing the protests called for new strikes and marches on April 6.
— The Associated Press