Protesters clash with police during strikes against pension reform in France

The initial strike began on 5 December to protest against broad changes to France’s pension system proposed by President Emmanuel Macron. Reforming the pensions was one of President Macron’s promises and there are three primary proposals of the pension reform plan.

The first is to create a universal state retirement plan, which would replace the 42 individual retirement plans that exist in France. The second is a “points system”, to give a pension in proportion to the contributions paid. The third is to “improve the pensions of the most disadvantaged”. The result of the system would increase the retirement age of many jobs in France.

Since then, multiple violent clashes between the protesting workers and the police have been registered.