Paul Pradier
Reporting from Paris

Robert is 63 and a retired public servant.

He says there has been a lack of dialogue between the government and trade unions, and that President Macron has been making all the decisions.

“He needs to make concessions,” says Robert. “The majority of the people are against this reform, and he should listen to us."

“When Mr Macron was re-elected in 2022, he said he would listen to the people, to those who voted for him to block Marine Le Pen from the presidency. But that’s not the case.”

Image source, AFP

Speaking at a protest in the central city of Clermont-Ferrand earlier, Philippe Martinez, head of the CGT trade union, has urged President Macron to take a step back and discuss the pension reforms.

Martinez says Macron is isolated:

Emmanuelle Auriol, an economist at the Toulouse School of Economics, believes the overall economic impact of the strikes on France will be “quite small”.

She estimates that they will cost roughly 0.1-0.2 points of quarterly GDP growth, based on similar walkouts in the past.

However, Auriol adds that this is not “uniformly spread”.

“Some sectors are hit harder than others,” she told the BBC World Service's World Business Report.

Léa Guedj
Reporting from Paris

Chloé is 35 and works in public relations.

She says while the original protests over the pension reforms were good, once the government pushed the changes through without a vote, “it got tense”.

She says people are being made to feel powerless and like their voices aren’t being heard.

“Every week we come," she says. “It’s hard, being on strike - we lose money and all that to show that we want to participate in political life.”

Image source, Getty Images

And we've just heard that the rubbish collection strikes have been suspended in Paris from Wednesday, the CGT union has announced.

The blockage of rubbish incinerators will also be stopped, it said.

Thousands of tonnes of rubbish have been left uncollected since the beginning of the month as a result of the strike.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

As we’ve been reporting, protests over French President Emmanuel Macron’s pension reform have taken place since mid-January, as Macron's government doubles down on its plan to extend the retirement age from 62 to 64.

But anti-government sentiment intensified after French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne invoked Article 49:3 of the constitution to push the reform through without a vote in the National Assembly.

Macron has argued the reform is necessary to keep the French pension system viable. But the change is bitterly opposed by trade unions and opposition parties - both on the left and far-right.

Last week, in the face of protests across France and two no-confidence votes, Macron said: "This reform isn't a luxury, it's not a pleasure, it's a necessity."

More than a million people joined demonstrations last Thursday, and police reported 457 arrests across France and injuries to 441 of the force's officers.

On Sunday, leftist opposition leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon said there was "a very simple way" to return to peaceful relations: "To withdraw the law."

Image source, .

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chief for The Economist, is with protesters on one of the French capital's most crowded streets and says there are mostly young people protesting.

“There are lots of high-school and university students. They are talking more about their families and grandparents when I ask them why they are protesting," she tells BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme.

"There is still a lot of anger out there, it is very clear when I speak to people,” she says, adding that violence usually breaks out towards the end of the day.

She also notes there are many policemen on the streets, and that there are "expectations things could turn nasty".

Large-scale protests are being held in several French towns and cities against the government’s pension reforms and there are concerns that there will be further violence, similar to scenes witnessed last week.

The Paris demonstration started a few minutes ago from the east of the city, heading to Place de la Nation. The BBC's Hugh Schofield is at the scene and will continue to bring us the latest updates.

Some protesters have already been clashing with police in Nantes, western France. A barricade has been erected at a tram crossing and demonstrators have also blocked access roads to the city. This created 45km (28 miles) of congestion at one point, the AFP news agency reports.

There have also been traffic jams spanning several kilometres in the north-western city of Rennes, where demonstrators blocked the ring road, and a car was set on fire. Police have used tear gas against a group of masked people.

Clashes are reported in the western city of Rouen, according to Reuters news agency.

Other demonstrations in cities like Nice and Bordeaux are reported to be largely peaceful so far.

The head of police in Paris, Laurent Nuñez, says all efforts will be made to ensure that law and order return to the streets.

“There is a tense situation, there is a desire on the part of some to create an insurrectional climate, that's for sure.

“But it's not an insurrection. Law enforcement is present, they will still be present this afternoon to maintain Republican order.”

Speaking to the BBC’s Lucy Williamson in Paris, police union delegate Loïc Walder says Covid and inflation were important factors to keep in mind while policing the protests.

People have become very tense, Walder explains, “and that doesn’t help to reduce the violence against the police, because the police are representing the state”.

Across France, demonstrations are taking place in protest at French President Emmanuel Macron's plans to extend the retirement age by two years, from 62 to 64.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Image source, Ewen Bazin via Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Paul Kirby
Europe digital editor

Image source, EPA

The city of Bordeaux was planning to roll out the red carpet today for King Charles III and the Queen Consort Camilla, but last week's violence in Bordeaux as well as Paris put a stop to that.

The 18th-Century door of the town hall in Bordeaux was set alight after last Thursday's protests and Mayor Pierre Hurmic said afterwards that although they were disappointed, the people of Bordeaux were ready to welcome the King and Camilla at a later date.

Today's march through the centre of Bordeaux has been very good-natured, although striking dock workers from the port set off firecrackers , externalas they took part in the march.

Dozens of students have continued their week-long blockade of a university campus.

One student, Jahan Lutz, told France 3 TV that on the marches, "we are singing 'Macron resign', because we want to bring his reforms down and to bring him down too".

France's interior minister says they are anticipating a “very serious risk to public order” during today’s demonstrations in cities including Paris, Lyon, Nantes and Bordeaux.

Gérald Darmanin said a record number of police officers were being deployed - a total of 13,000 - throughout the day.

Demonstrations across France have been largely peaceful. But the pension reform law’s unpopularity is enticing a wave of growing violence, in the capital and beyond.

The current mood in France led British monarch King Charles to postpone a three-day state visit due to take place this week because of the situation.

Image source, Reuters

Hugh Schofield
Reporting from Paris

Image source, Getty Images

As the campaign enters its third month, the question of pension reform risks being eclipsed by the threat of violence.

After the street battles in Paris on Thursday - and then the extremely violent clashes in rural western France on Saturday - everyone is gearing up for more of the same at the end of this afternoon’s demo.

Early signs are that there will be a much larger turnout than usual of young people - high-school and university students - which police see as potentially dangerous.

If things are bad, it will confirm the impression that the crisis is moving into a new phase.

In this phase, the two sides - government and opposition - unleash angry tirades, each blaming the other for instigating the unrest - the government by pigheadedly persisting with the reform, the opposition by failing to ostracise its extremists.

But behind the scenes, the phase can also be marked by the beginnings of detente. The threat of civil conflict concentrates minds wonderfully.

Already we are seeing government spokesman Olivier Véran and trade union moderate Laurent Berger issuing positive noises this morning about the prospect of talks.

Ironically, the fear of trouble can hasten peace.

• Back in early January, France's government proposed raising the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 by 2030 in a major reform of the pension system
• But the details immediately triggered an angry response from the unions. Over a million people joined the first protests across the country in January
• Two months of heated political debate and strikes followed. Transport, fuel distribution and waste collection have been heavily impacted
• On 17 March, the French government decided to force the pension reforms through without a vote in parliament. PM Elisabeth Borne invoked article 49:3 of the constitution, allowing the government to avoid a vote in the National Assembly
• On 20 March, the government survived a vote of no-confidence, triggered when it forced through the changes
• And then last week, King Charles III's state visit to France was postponed at President Macron's request, because of the protests.

Alexandra Fouché
Live reporter

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the latest protests in France, as the country sees its 10th day of mass protests and strikes against President Emmanuel Macron's pension reform law which extends the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Protests over the reform have taken place since mid-January, but anti-government sentiment intensified after French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne used Article 49:3 of the constitution to force the law through.

Labour unions have urged Macron to put the plans on pause, with Laurent Berger, the leader of France's largest trade union confederation (CFDT), asking the president to accept some form of mediation as "a gesture of appeasement".

Demonstrations are expected to take place all over France, including in some of the larger cities such as Lyon, Nantes and Bordeaux.

In Paris, the main demonstration will start at 14:00 (12:00 GMT) in Place de la République.

The government says a record number of police - some 13,000 - will be deployed across the country to confront what it describes as a major risk to public order.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest updates from our correspondents on the ground and our reporters in London.