Thousands in France hold demonstrations against government's plans

Thousands of people in France have held fresh demonstrations to oppose the government's plans to overhaul pensions and increase the retirement age to 64.

French unions organized Tuesday’s protests, marking the 14th day of demos against government plans to hike the retirement age.

According to authorities, between 400,000 and 600,000 people are expected to turn out at protests across France on Tuesday.  

Clashes erupted between protesters and police in Nantes as demonstrators marched across the western French city, throwing projectiles at riot police who fired tear gas canisters at them.

Members of the hard-left CGT trade union briefly occupied the headquarters of the Paris Summer 2024 Olympics. BFM television images showed the protesters entering the building in Aubervilliers, northern Paris.

"Several dozen CGT militants got into the building for a few minutes to deploy banners against pension reform. There were no violence and no damage," a Games spokesperson told Reuters.

In some areas protesters carried flags and banners, calling on the Macron government to scrap the forced reforms.

Protest organizers hope the mass rally will pile pressure on lawmakers into reviewing the pension reform and holding a vote on it.

Meantime, French security officials deployed 11,000 police nationwide on Tuesday.

Also, fuel deliveries were blocked by protesters from leaving TotalEnergies's Donges site, near Nantes in western France where tension was building on the streets. 

French police attack protesters with tear gas at Total's meeting

French police officers have fired teargas to disperse climate demonstrators gathered in Paris to raise their voices against an annual general meeting of oil company TotalEnergies.

Police in Paris stood guard outside the National Assembly, blocking the main entrance and checking passersby in the French capital.

French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to force the reform through with special constitutional powers prompted angry protests this spring, but the issue has slowly moved down the media agenda, making it harder for unions to mobilize.

"I'm not sure there'll be other protests afterwards," Jean-Claude Mailly, the former leader of the FO union said.

"Protests have been going on for six months, it's unprecedented," Sophie Binet, the new leader of the hardline CGT union said on BFM TV. "There's a lot of anger but also fatigue," she said, adding that strikers were feeling the pinch on paychecks.

Meantime, Macron claims that he has heard the voice of people angry over raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, but insists that the move is needed to keep the pension system afloat as the population ages.

In France, Ukraine's Zelensky presses for fighter jets

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has traveled to France, his second foreign destination in a single day after the United Kingdom, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, pressing them for more weaponry, fighter jets in particular, amid the ongoing war with Russia.

At the same time, however, Macron has been supplying Ukraine with military aid worth a fortune supplied by the French people's money.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been urging the US-led Western nations acting as Washington's vassals to provide more advanced weapons and military equipment to the Kiev government.

Macron, for his part, promised Zelensky he would help Kiev "to win the war," reiterating that the French government was "determined to help Ukraine to victory and the re-establishment of its legitimate rights."

Macron insisted, "Russia cannot and must not prevail."

In addition to military and financial aid to Ukraine, Western nations have also imposed a slew of economic sanctions on Moscow. The Kremlin has said the sanctions have backfired, mounting hardships on European nations grappling with soaring inflation and an increase in the cost of living due to the rise in energy costs linked to the anti-Moscow measures.

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