FRANCE: OLD STRIKES END, NEW STRIKES START

Last week, over 500,000 strikers continued the massive protest against proposed changes to the pension system, which is now over a month long.
Ending the longest transport strike in the history of France this past weekend, other unions kept the fight going by cutting power to thousands in the southern suburbs of Paris.
Last Friday, President Macron and his wife had to be ushered out of a Paris theatre by security guards due to angry protestors outside trying to break in to stop the performance.
On Saturday, about 60 protesters were arrested. Demonstrators shouted at police and called them out for aggressive tactics.
A recent poll shows about two thirds of the French people support the ongoing strikes.
President Macron insists his reforms will simplify the 42 separate pension plans currently in use into a unified system. Critics claim the move will force millions of French employees to work longer hours for a smaller pension and delay the age at which they can retire.