French President Emmanuel Macron signed highly controversial pension reforms into law on Saturday morning, following months of protests by the country's trade union groups and ordinary citizens.
The reforms' implementation followed the decision on Friday by France's Constitutional Council to approve the bulk of Macron's proposals, including the highly unpopular decision to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.
The Constitutional Council's decision was greeted by booing in front of Paris City Hall, where nearly 4,000 demonstrators had gathered. Protests subsequently broke out across the country's capital, where 112 people were eventually arrested.
Widespread protests — and condemnation
Demonstrations also took place across many of France's major cities, including Lille, Lyon, Toulouse, Marseille, and Grenoble. In Rennes, the door of a police station in the city centre was set on fire before being extinguished, during a rally attended by hundreds of people.
"Some say that the mobilisation is weakening, but I think it is becoming more radical," said Raji Aletcheredji, 24, a Solidaires union member.
Macron "cannot govern the country until he withdraws this reform", said the head of the CGT union Sophie Binet. Both Binet and the Secretary General of the CFD union, Laurent Berger, called for "large popular demonstrations" on 1 May.
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The reform's passage was also vehemently denounced by the country's key political figures.
"The Constitutional Council has aggravated the crisis, it puts us all against the wall," said Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of the far-left political group France Unbowed.
"The political fate of the pension reform is not sealed," said Marine Le Pen, the head of the far-right National Rally group. She added that the reform "will mark the definitive break between the French people and Emmanuel Macron".
By contrast, the head of the right-wing party Les Républicains, Eric Ciotti, called on "all political forces" to "accept" the Constitutional Council's decisions. The centre-right MoDem group welcomed the "fair" decision but insisted on the need to "renew dialogue".
