Many normally busy stations and thoroughfares were quiet, and windows at shops and banks were boarded in anticipation of the demonstrations. Commuters and city dwellers scrambled to find bicycles and scooters to get to work and go about their days. Thursday’s strike — expected to be the largest in decades — was yet another test for President Emmanuel Macron, who has pushed through plans to reform France’s retirement system despite sharp criticism from the country’s powerful trade unions. For now, Macron shows no signs of backing down, and his retirement reforms were part of his campaign pitch in 2017, an election he won in a landslide, albeit against the far-right leader Marine Le Pen. Élisabeth Borne, France’s ecology minister, whose department is responsible for transportation services, said that any “significant improvement” on Friday was unlikely.

Source: Washington Post December 05, 2019 09:15 UTC