On Thuesday, thousands of French citizens took to the streets to demand that the Constitutional Council not approve President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform proposal.
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"If the Council approves this project, we will continue to take again to the streets and hold more demonstrations," said Tamara Aslamov, an 18-year-old college student, in front of the Paris Opera.
On Friday afternoon, the Constitutional Council must rule on the validity of the reform, which proposes to delay the retirement age to 64 years by 2030 and to bring forward to 2027 the requirement to contribute 43 years to receive a full pension.
On March 7, over 3.5 million citizens protested against this reform. Authorities registered that about 600,000 people are participating in today's demonstrations, which mark the twelfth day of mass protests against this initiative.
The Police banned any demonstration at the Constitutional Council, whose headquarters is nearby the Louvre Museum, from Thursday night and deployed a security device in this area.
Polls showed that most French citizens oppose the reform, which Macron approved without waiting for the necessary parliamentary procedures. “This initiative is indispensable to avoid a future deficit in the pension fund amid the population aging,” the President alleged.
"This imposition of this reform has provoked a national democratic crisis. We have no option but to fight against this proposal, which is far from over," said Laurent Berger, a leader of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) union.