Paris Faces Multiple Crises as Protests, Strikes, and Garbage Pile Up

Unions say 800,000 people have joined demonstrations in Paris on Thursday for the ninth day of national strikes against pension reform. Violence broke out at the head of the demonstration march against pension reform on Thursday in Paris, where several hundred protesters dressed in black broke windows and street furniture. Clashes broke out on Thursday between demonstrators and forces of order during pension reform protests in Nantes, Rennes and Lorient. French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin has said attacks and damage caused by protesters in Lorient, where a government building was set on fire, are “inacceptable” and “cannot go unpunished”. More than a quarter of employees (25.3%) at national electricity provider EDF stopped work at midday on Thursday for the ninth day of strikes against the pension reform.