Their fury only increased after Macron, facing a divided Parliament and lacking the support of the right-wing Republican Party, instructed Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to invoke article 49.3 of the Constitution on Thursday, allowing the legislation to pass without a vote from lawmakers.
Thousands gathered Thursday in Place de la Concorde, which faces the National Assembly building, and sporadic protests persisted into the night. Large plumes of black smoke rose early Friday over Gare du Lyon, a busy rail station on the eastern side of town.
Protests also played out in many towns and cities, including Rennes in the west and the southern port city of Marseilles.
Some 310 people were arrested, Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said.
The next nationwide day of strikes — the eighth in the last three months — is set for next Thursday, unions have said.
In the meantime, the piles of garbage littering Paris’ famous streets are a very visible — and pungent — symbol of the anger felt by public-sector workers over the pension plans. Paris City Hall estimates there are some 13,000 tons of it on the streets.
The city’s enormous tourist economy continued regardless, with tours of major sites ongoing. But the experience had some added and unwanted features.
Doris Arseguel, navigating a small group of Brazilian tourists through the narrow cobblestone streets of the garbage littered 5th arrondissement, told them to be careful of any rats, which are having a field day.
“It’s very difficult to show the beauty of Paris to tourists with all the garbage and barricades,” Arseguel, 53, told NBC News. “Paris’ beauty is completely covered up now. It’s become too much.”
The anti-reform cause has also been enthusiastically taken up by young people, who face working longer under tighter financial constraints.
At the prestigious Lycée Henri-IV school in central Paris, around 100 students blocked the entrance Friday morning in protest of the policies of Macron, an…
Read the full article here