The French organised nationwide demonstrations across days against President Emmanuel Macron’s overhauling of the pension policy
French protesters clashed with the police, damaged properties, invaded the BlackRock office in Paris, and burned the awning of La Rotonde, believed to be President Macron’s favourite eatery
The French are protesting against the Macron-government’s decision to increase the retirement age from 62 years to 64 years. It means that people will have to work longer to access the government’s full pension benefits
The Macron government decided to increase the age of retirement in order to prevent a looming funding deficit. The government says the proposed change is needed to keep the pension system in the black
The executive order in mid-March could still be struck down by France’s constitutional council that will evaluate the order on April 14 to determine its validity
BlackRock has no role in the decision-making but was targetted by the protesters for their private pension fund activity. A protester told Reuters that the government wants to ‘throw away pensions’ and force people to fund their own retirement with private pension funds, which will only benefit the rich
The French protesters burnt the awning of La Rotonde for its association with President Macron, instrumental in bringing this reform. Macron had celebrated in the restaurant on the evening he led in the first round of votes in 2017 presidential elections
Trade unions have led one day of national strikes and peaceful demonstrations every week since mid-March. However, there have been instances of clashes between the police and the protesters
Initially, millions had joined the demonstrations. However, the media has stated that the turnout has slightly decreased in recent weeks. While France’s interior ministry estimated that 570,000 people joined Thursday’s protests, trade unions placed this number at nearly 2 million
The French government and the protesters are now awaiting the April 14th decision. Meanwhile, the trade unions said they will continue to mobilise people. They have called for new strikes and protests on April 13