Protesters clashed with police across France Tuesday as tensions remain high over French President Emmanuel Macron‘s unpopular pension bill.
On March 16, Macron signed a bill that raised the national retirement age from 62 to 64, making the decision just moments before a vote on the measure was set to be held in the National Assembly. Many French citizens have been riled since, gathering in large protests across the nation that have typically involved violent clashes with police and fires in the streets.
On Tuesday, protests persisted after the French government rejected union leaders’ demands to suspend Macron’s retirement bill, according to a report from Reuters. Macron and his proponents have argued that raising the retirement age is imperative to save the pension system from bankruptcy.
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During one of the confrontations between protesters and police in Paris, live footage from BFM TV, a 24-hour news channel in France, captured officers charging at a crowd, knocking a man standing in front of the police line to the ground. Videos have since circulated on social media, showing officers attempting to help the man who appears unconscious.
Twitter user Timothée Forget, a journalism student in Paris, reposted a video of BFM’s live feed on Twitter, writing, “a man has just been violently thrown to the ground after a police charge!!”
Reuters reported that police did not respond to a request for comment on the man’s condition.
French Minister of the Interior Gerald Darmanin reported on Twitter Tuesday evening that there have been 201 arrests in the nearly two weeks of protests. He also thanked “the 13,000 police and gendarmes mobilized throughout France to ensure the safety of people and property, under the authority of the prefects” and gave his “full support” to the 175 officers who had been injured.
According to reports from BFM, 70 people were arrested in the protests across Paris on Tuesday. The Paris Police Department posted photos on Twitter of what appears to be a hammer and another metal object confiscated from the crowd in the 10,000 “checks” performed by police that same day.
Union leaders had previously demanded that the French government suspend Macron’s pension bill to allow time to rethink the decision. Reuters reported that officials rejected the request Tuesday morning.
Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne instead offered to meet with union leaders early next week, read the report, and officials said they would be willing to discuss other topics but remained firm on the pension reform.
Reuters added that the next nationwide day of protest has been planned by unions for April 6.
Newsweek has reached out to French Ambassador to the U.S. Laurent Bili for comment.
