French President Emmanuel Macron's government on Thursday rammed a controversial pension reform through parliament without a vote, sparking angry protests in Paris and other cities as well as tumult in the legislature.
The move to use a special constitutional power enabling the government to pass legislation without a vote amounted to an admission that the government lacked a majority to hike the retirement age from 62 to 64.
A crowd of thousands gathered in front of the parliament in the historic Place de la Concorde in central Paris, watched over by riot police. Several stores were looted during protests in the southern city of Marseille while clashes between protesters and security forces also erupted in the western cities of Nantes and Rennes as well as Lyon in the southeast, AFP correspondents said.Trade unions and political analysts had warned that adopting the legislation without a vote -- by invoking article 49.3 of the constitution -- risked radicalising opponents and would undercut the law's democratic legitimacy.
Unions immediately called for another day of mass strikes and protests for next Thursday, calling the government's move "a complete denial of democracy". "You cannot play with the future of the country," he told a closed-door cabinet meeting Thursday morning as he justified the move, according to a participant.
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