Protests Sweep France as Macron Stands Firm on Pension Reform

Angry protesters opposing President Emmanuel Macron's plan to raise the retirement age blocked access to the airport building, sat on train tracks, clashed with police, and threw projectiles at police stations during a day of protests across France. Police responded with tear gas to the demonstrators in Nantes in the west of the country. Footage from BFMTV showed police using water cannons in Rennes. In Lorient, also in the west, the newspaper Ouest-France reported that projectiles briefly caused a fire at a police station. Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport on the outskirts of Paris experienced riots from workers. Near Toulouse in the southwest, piles of debris set on fire blocked traffic on a highway, sending up plumes of smoke. Philippe Martinez, leader of the General Confederation of Labor, stated at the beginning of a large rally in Paris, "There is a lot of anger, the situation is explosive." Labor union leaders called for calm but expressed their anger over what they described as "provocative" statements from Macron.