In France, hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take to the streets for a last-ditch attempt to block a law raising the retirement age
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to take to the streets in France on Tuesday for what is seen as a last-ditch attempt to block a law raising the retirement age, Radio Romania Actualités reports.
The actions are intended to encourage the legislative initiative to repeal the increase in the retirement age from 62 to 64, tabled by the independents' parliamentary group and scheduled to be debated on Thursday 8 June in the National Assembly.
Seen as a last hope to turn things around, the repeal bill is unlikely to win a majority and pass. The interior ministry has announced the deployment of 11,000 police and gendarmes to provide security for the demonstrations.
In Paris, the use of drones has been authorised to monitor the protests.
The authorities have information that many far-left militants will come from abroad and join the French, trying to provoke tension within the union marches.
However, very few sectors have responded to the call to strike. So the work stoppage by air traffic controllers will affect a third of domestic flights at Orly airport south of Paris. There will be no problems at Roissy Charles de Gaulle International Airport or Beauvais. Rail traffic will be very little disrupted, and some strike action has been announced in the energy and education sectors, but it will be small-scale and rather local.
