Macron refuses to concede as mass protests continue

Protesters blocked train tracks and highways and clashed with police in some French cities yesterday as they marched across the country against President Emmanuel Macron’s deeply unpopular pension bill.

- STEPHANE MAHE & ELIZABETH PINEAU

One protester in Paris seemed to capture the mood, brandishing a banner that read: "France is angry." Another protester at the same rally, Fanny Charier, 31, said: "The [pension] bill has acted as a catalyst for anger over Macron's policies."

Earlier in the day, the government rejected a new demand by unions to suspend and rethink the pension bill, which will bring the retirement age from 62 up to 64, infuriating labour leaders who said the government must find a way out of the crisis.

The government said it was more than willing to talk to unions, but on other topics, and repeated it would stand firm on the pension front.

"We have proposed a way out ... and it's intolerable that we are being stonewalled again," the head of the CFDT union, Laurent Berger, told reporters at the start of a rally in Paris.

Mr Macron, who promised to deliver pension reform in both of his presidential campaigns, says change is needed to keep the country's finances in balance. Unions and opposition parties say there are other ways to do that.

Millions of people have been demonstrating and joining strike action since mid-January to show their opposition to the bill. But public frustration has evolved into broader anti-Macron sentiment.