Non! We will not work until 64: police, protesters clash in Paris over pension overhaul

Riot police clashed with protesters on Friday evening in Paris as a new demonstration took place against the government's plans to raise the French state pension age.

The growing unrest, which has resulted in a wave of strikes since the start of the year and rubbish piling up on the streets of Paris, has left President Emmanuel Macron with the gravest challenge to his authority since the so-called 'Gilets Jaunes' or 'Yellow Vest' protests of December 2018.

Reuters TV broadcast images of teargas used by police to deal with crowd disorder as protesters gathered in Paris' Place de la Concorde, near the Assemblee Nationale parliament building.

“Macron, Resign!” chanted some demonstrators, as they squared up to a line of riot police.

Friday's events followed similar disorder on Thursday, after Macron pushed through the contested pension overhaul without a parliamentary vote.

The move raises France's state pension age by two years to 64, which the government says is essential to ensure the system does not go bust.

Unions, and most voters, disagree.

The French are deeply attached to keeping the official retirement age at 62, which is among the lowest in OECD countries.

More than eight out of 10 people are unhappy with the government's decision to skip a vote in parliament and 65% want strikes and protests to continue, a Toluna Harris Interactive poll showed.

Going ahead without a vote “is a denial of democracy ... a total denial of what has been happening in the streets for several weeks”, 52-year-old psychologist Nathalie Alquier said. “It's just unbearable.”

A broad alliance of France's main unions said they would continue their mobilisation to try to force a U-turn on the changes. Protests are planned for this weekend, with a new day of nationwide industrial action scheduled for Thursday.

While eight days of nationwide protests since mid-January, and many more local industrial actions, had been largely peaceful, the unrest on Thursday and Friday was reminiscent of the Yellow Vest protests in late 2018 over high fuel prices, which forced Macron into a partial U-turn on a carbon tax.