Nationwide strikes in France over plan to raise pension age to 64

Protesters aim to ‘bring France to standstill’ as President Macron struggles to delay retirements by 2 years

Hundreds of thousands of protesters marched in France on Tuesday as rail workers and refinery staff began rolling strikes and trade unions stepped up their campaign to try to stop Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the pension age to 64.

For the sixth time since the start of the year, trade unions called a nationwide day of strikes and demonstrations. Many protest rallies attracted bigger crowds than those organised since mid-January, including in Marseille, one of France’s biggest cities, authorities and local media said.