Hundreds detained in France’s ferocious demonstrations

• At least 310 individuals have been jailed in France.
• Due to protests against the government’s pension reforms.
• leading to 258 arrests and delays to the morning commute.

In France, at least 310 individuals have been jailed as a result of protests against the struggling government’s imposition of pension reforms that will result in a two-year increase in the retirement age.

The majority of the 258 arrests made on Thursday night, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin, were in Paris, the French radio station said.

The streets of the city were calm by Friday morning, but as a result of the unplanned protests on Thursday night, government ministers were on the defensive.

The controversial plans to raise the retirement age in France from 62 to 64 were rammed through by the government on Thursday, inflaming the nation’s weeks-long protest movement.

President Emmanuel Macron’s assertion that the government didn’t wish to utilize its constitutional authority to force the measure through was reaffirmed by both government spokesman Olivier Veran and budget minister Gabriel Attal.

Speaking to LCI and France Inter, two French media outlets, respectively.

“If we don’t do [the reforms] today, it’s much more brutal measures that we will have to do in future,” Attal said.

According to reputed media outlet, protesters briefly stopped the ring road in Paris on Friday morning in opposition to the pension change, creating significant delays for the morning commute.

And a garbage workers’ strike that has caused many Parisian streets to be overrun with trash bags is still going on. Darmanin, the interior minister, declared he would direct the police to compel some of them to work.

“I respect the strike of the garbage collectors,” he said, “however, what is not acceptable is unsanitary conditions.”

The interior ministry urged security personnel to “firmly maintain” measures for elected officials in France, who “are often the target of threats, insults, or even destructive acts such as property damage,” in a note published Thursday night in response to the pension reforms.

Thursday morning, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told the National Assembly that Macron would use extraordinary constitutional powers to pass the planned pension reform legislation.

“We cannot bet on the future of our pensions,” Borne said amid jeers and chants from lawmakers. “This reform is necessary.”

In response to Borne’s declaration, French labor groups called for further protests, and thousands of people gathered on Thursday evening in Paris’ Place de la Concorde and other French cities.

“By resorting to [constitutional article] 49.3, the government demonstrates that it does not have a majority to approve the two-year postponement of the legal retirement age,” tweeted Laurent Berger, head of the CFDT, one of the unions leading the protests.

According to reputed media outlet Philippe Martinez, the CGT trade union’s president, has called for additional strikes and demonstrations.

Since mid-January, there have been numerous large-scale rallies around France, with millions of people attending to express their opposition to the government’s proposal.

Transport and education have been impacted by mass strikes.

In order to prevent the pension system’s finances from going into the red in the upcoming years, the administration has stated that change is required.

“The aim is to balance the accounts without raising taxes or cutting pensions. Various options are on the table, but all include raising the retirement age,” government spokesman Olivier Veran told journalists in January, according to media.

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