A ninth day of nationwide demonstrations in France on Thursday in protest at Emmanuel Macron's pension system reforms saw no drop in turnout on those held earlier this month, with trades unions claiming more than three million took part while police estimated just more than one million.
Following a televised interview on Wednesday in which Emmanuel Macron made his first public comments since forcing his pension reform legislation through parliament without a vote last week, trades union leaders and opposition parties variously slammed the French president for telling 'lies' and showing 'disdain' and 'contempt' for those against the reform, while another nationwide day of demonstrations and strikes against its implementation is to be held on Thursday.
The French government on Monday survived by just nine votes a no-confidence motion in parliament that required 287 in favour to succeed, tabled after President Emmanuel Macron controversially ordered that his proposed reform of the pensions system, including raising the retirment age on full pension rights from 62 to 64, should be forced through parliament by decree.
French journalist Olivier Dubois, 48, who was kidnapped in northern Mali by jihadists in April 2021, and American aid worker Jeffery Woodke, 62, who was abducted in Niger in October 2016, were both released on Monday, when they appeared at a press conference in Niger's capital, Niamey.
There were rowdy scenes on Thursday at France's National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, after the government announced it is to use an article of the constitution which allows it to force its reform of the pension system through the chamber without a vote, a decisiontaken after it became unsure of gaining a majority of members in favour of the hotly contested draft bill.
The Paris police prefect announced Wednesday evening that municipal employees are to be requistioned to begin clearing up rubbish that has been piling and rotting in the streets of the capital due to a nine-day and now extended strike by refuse collectors protesting at pension reform plans that would see their retirement age raised from 57 to 59.
Search and rescue operations continued on Monday after at least 22 people were found drowned, and another 20 were rescued when their boat capsized in the Indian Ocean during an attempted clandestine crossing from Madagascar to the French archipelago of Mayotte, some 400 kilometres further west.
A court in the French island of Corsica has ruled that the Corsican language cannot be used in the exercise of public office, effectively outlawing debates in the tongue at the island's political assembly, and pronounced that local rules establishing “the existence of a Corsican people” were also a violation of France's constitution.
Three incineration plants outside the capital have been hit by the work stoppages that have left entire pavements covered in black bags and overflowing bins.
Unions hope they can still force Macron to back down as parliament debates the draft law, with the National Assembly and the Senate moving towards a final vote as early as this month.
