PARIS, (Reuters) – Striking public sector workers disrupted travel across France yesterday and sporadic violence flared at protest marches as opponents of President Nicolas Sarkozy’s pension reform made a last-ditch attempt to stop it.
Refinery workers, airport staff, train drivers, teachers, postal workers and guards who supply cash machines went on strike and students set off rowdy protests in a day of action against plans to raise the minimum retirement age to 62 from 60.
At least a million protesters demonstrated in cities across France in the biggest and most persistent challenge to economic reforms anywhere in Europe, where governments are struggling to curb budget deficits and reduce debt mountains.
“To hell with the national debt. We’ll give them nothing and we don’t give a damn about their AAA!” read one protest sign, referring to the AAA credit rating the government says could be at risk unless it gets its pension shortfall under control.
The protests have blown up into the biggest test yet for Sarkozy, whose popularity ratings are dismal 18 months before a presidential election which polls show the left would win as things stand today.
The unrest has put him under an uncomfortable spotlight as France prepares to take over the G20 presidency in mid-November.
Speaking in the seaside town of Deauville where he met the leaders of Russia and Germany, Sarkozy appealed for restraint as hooded protesters in the southern city of Lyon torched cars and looted shops after using cafe chairs to smash windows.
He said pension reform had been put off too long in France, where unions have a history of crushing such initiatives.
“A head of state has a duty toward the young and vis-a-vis the fundamental imbalances of his country,” Sarkozy said.
The CGT union put turnout at 3.5 million, on a par with its record-high estimate for protests earlier in the month. The government said 1.1 million people had turned out.
Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the government was concerned about violence on the fringes of protests. The head of the CFDT union, Francois Chereque, also called for calm.
Police used tear gas to disperse protesters in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, where the mayor said 200 youths set cars on fire and smashed public property. The suburb of Mantes-la-Jolie was hit by similar incidents, media reported.
This week will be critical for Sarkozy’s reform and for safeguarding the AAA rating which allows France to finance its large public debt at low market rates.
A majority of voters resent the plan to raise the minimum and full retirement ages by two years to 62 and 67 respectively, and unions are demanding negotiations on the pensions overhaul.
