PARIS - More than a million people marched in France on Thursday to protest against pension reforms, with some demonstrators clashing with police in Paris as strikes disrupted public transport, schools and much of the civil service.

The Interior Ministry put the total number of protesters marching against President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to extend the retirement age at 1.2 million, including 80,000 in Paris.

The hard-left CGT union said there had been more than two million people at protests across France, and 400,000 in the capital alone.

Another day of action is planned for Jan 31.

Around the Bastille area of Paris, some demonstrators hurled bottles, bins and smoke grenades at the police, who responded with tear gas and charged to disperse the troublemakers.

As the march wound down in the evening, groups of young protesters also clashed with security forces at the vast Nation plaza in eastern Paris, setting fire to several bicycles and smashing bus stops.

Police said 44 people were arrested on weapons or violence charges, mostly from among the radical “Black Blocs” group, who wore masks, helmets and black clothes.

Officers managed to split off the group, who numbered around a thousand, from the main demonstration.

Seventeen people were also arrested in Lyon, where 23,000 people protested, according to the authorities.

The pensions plan, presented by Mr Macron’s government last week, would raise the retirement age for most from 62 – among the lowest in the European Union – to 64 and would increase the years of contributions required for a full pension.

France’s trade unions called for a mass mobilisation, the first time they have united since 12 years ago, when the retirement age was hiked to 62 from 60.

Police said earlier that they prepared for 550,000 to 750,000 protesters in all of France, including up to 80,000 in the capital.

Mr Macron, speaking from a French-Spanish summit in Barcelona, defended what he called a “fair and responsible reform”.

But demonstrators disagreed, including Hamidou, 43, who joined the protest in central Paris.

“Macron wants us to die on the job,” he said, declining to give his full name. “We get up very early. Some colleagues wake up at 3am. Working until 64 is too much.”

Nearby, 15-year-old Charlie Perrin decried an ever-retreating retirement age.

“The way things are going, we’ll be almost unable to walk or live by the time we’re given the right to retire,” she said.

One in three public sector workers was on strike by midday, the government estimated.

The protests even stretched as far afield as the French Polynesian capital of Papeete, where around 800 people gathered to oppose the proposed changes, the authorities said.

In the north-western region of Brittany, carpenter and roofer Laurent Quere, 42, said he was fiercely opposed to having to work longer.

“What client in their right mind would employ us on a work site at age 64?“ he said.

The strikes disrupted public transport in the capital, closing one metro line and forcing others to run reduced services. Large numbers of trains were cancelled across France.

Around 40 per cent of primary school teachers and more than 30 per cent in the secondary system walked out, according to official estimates, forcing many parents to find other arrangements for their children.

Unions put the strike participation much higher, at 70 per cent and 65 per cent, respectively.

Strikers at state-owned energy provider EDF said they lowered electricity output by about 7,000MW, while grid operator RTE put the figure at 5,000MW – enough to power two cities the size of Paris.

But the CGT union said the reduction would have “no impact on users”.

CGT chief Philippe Martinez told broadcaster Public Senat earlier on Thursday that the pension reform “bundles together everyone’s dissatisfaction” with the government. “We all agree that the reform is unjust.”

Opinion polls show that around two-thirds of French people oppose raising the retirement age, a move that comes amid high inflation and with France still recovering from the economic fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mr Macron’s last attempt at pension reform in 2019 ended a year later when Covid-19 hit Europe.

But it had already prompted the longest strike on the Paris transport network in three decades.

The 45-year-old former banker vowed to press ahead with plans to push back the retirement age during his re-election campaign in 2022, pointing to forecasts that the system could fall into deep deficits at the end of the decade.

But unions are suspicious of the overhaul and want to protect those who started working at a young age or have been toiling in physically demanding jobs.

On Friday, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said the strikes are unlikely to hurt the French economy.

“I don’t think the strikes will have a really important economic impact on the French economy,” said Mr Le Maire at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“We strongly believe this reform is a necessity for France. It is the best way of ensuring more prosperity for the French people,” he said, but added that the government would have an open mindset regarding talks over the change. AFP, REUTERS