Summary

  • French unions have called for a day of action on 28 March that would coincide with the last full day of King Charles III's state visit to the country

  • Up to 1.08m across France were involved in protests over pensions reform, according to figures from the interior ministry

  • The CGT union estimated up to 800,000 people were protesting on the streets of Paris, however police have since put that number at 119,000

  • Police say 33 people have been arrested in the French capital following an afternoon of clashes

  • Elsewhere in France police used tear gas in Nantes and water cannon in Rennes as protesters took to the streets over legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64

  • President Emmanuel Macron's government forced the legislation through without a vote in the lower house of parliament last week

Live Reporting

Edited by Jeremy Gahagan

  1. Macron's perceived 'arrogance' at heart of protests

    Hugh Schofield
    Reporting from Paris

    People watching President Macron's interviewGetty Images

    This is the first day of demonstrations since the triggering of Article 49:3 last week, and it comes a day after President Macron’s televised interview yesterday.

    It is therefore being carefully watched to see if levels of participation have grown, and if new kinds of more violent protest are going to spread.

    With complete predictability, the president’s words did nothing to calm the mood.

    But then, short of disowning the central point of the reform (raising the pension age to 64), what could he have possibly said that would have persuaded opponents to give up?

    People say it is his “arrogance” and “contempt for the people” that get their goat.

    That, I think, gets to the heart of it. One senses that the movement is not really - or not only - about pension reform.

    It’s about the accumulation of daily difficulties and injustices which many see around them - problems from which in his technocratic ivory tower the slick young president seems (to them) utterly removed.

  2. Ninth day of nationwide protests and strikes under way

    Laura Gozzi
    Live reporter

    Welcome. Today is the ninth day of nationwide protests and strikes in France.

    Demonstrations are under way after the government announced it would use its constitutional power to push through a legislation that will raise the pension age from 62 to 64.

    Yesterday, French President Emmanuel Macron gave a defiant defence of his decision in an interview. Today, the president is travelling to Brussels to attend the European Council summit.

    Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of protesters are expected to join demonstrations in dozens of French towns and cities.

    Our Paris correspondent Hugh Schofield will be on the ground in Paris, where authorities expect tens of thousands of people to join the protest. We also have the BBC News website's Europe editor Paul Kirby with us - and we’ll be keeping you abreast of all the latest news and developments on this page.