Protesters clash with police in Paris over Macron's pension reform
Protests against Emmanuel Macron's pension reform turned violent in Paris on Saturday night, March 18, after several thousand protesters gathered at Place d'Italie, where some people set trash cans on fire. 81 people were arrested, according to Agence France Presse.
Protesters are trying to pressure lawmakers to bring down Macron’s government and doom the unpopular retirement age increase he’s trying to impose without a vote in the National Assembly.
Largely non-violent protests were held earlier in the day in various French cities, including Nantes and Marseille, where protesters got past police to occupy the main train station for around 15 minutes. In the eastern city of Besançon, hundreds of demonstrators lit a brazier and burned voter cards.
In Paris, police banned further gatherings on the Place de la Concorde, where protesters tossed an effigy of Macron into a bonfire as a crowd cheered Friday night. Police also prohibited gatherings on the Champs-Elysées avenue, where some protesters set fires earlier in the week after officers charged demonstrators to disperse them. Protestors instead met at the Place d'Italie, on the other side of the Seine.
