At least two demonstrators were also injured in Paris, according to reporters from the AFP news agency. Some black-clad, masked protesters set trash cans on fire and looted a supermarket. The security forces used tear gas.
Overall, however, the demonstrations were less violent than on the day of action last week. The number of participants was also smaller. The Interior Ministry spoke of 740,000 demonstrators across France, the CGT union of around two million participants nationwide, last Thursday there were 3.5 million. Police counted 93,000 demonstrators in Paris, while the CGT reported 450,000 participants in the French capital. On the day of action five days earlier, there were 800,000 demonstrators.
The Interior Ministry had deployed 13,000 security forces across the country, including 5,500 in Paris. Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin emphasized that these are more than ever since the pension protests began.
Numerous means of transport were canceled again on Tuesday. The Eiffel Tower and the Palace of Versailles remained closed. In Lorient, western France, demonstrators blocked railway tracks with burning barricades. Because of the ongoing strikes in the refineries and fuel depots, 15 percent of the petrol stations no longer offer all types of fuel, and seven percent no longer have any fuel at all.
According to the Ministry of Education, a good eight percent of teachers took part in the strike. Nationwide there were protests at 62 universities and colleges.
A new, nationwide, eleventh day of action has been announced by the unions for April 6th. A little later, Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne invited the unions to a meeting "Monday or Tuesday" next week, according to CFDT union boss Laurent Berger.
Berger called for the appointment of a mediator and for the reform to be suspended. "We'll take a month and a half and say that raising the retirement age to 64 will not be implemented for the time being," he suggested. That would be an appropriate "gesture of pacification," he told broadcaster France Inter.
At a meeting with representatives of his government majority, French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized that he wanted to talk to the unions again - but not about the key points of the reform. "The pension law is behind us," said government spokesman Olivier Véran. The Constitutional Council is currently dealing with the reform and its decision is expected in about three weeks.
Since the pension reform was passed just over a week ago, many demonstrators have directed their anger against the government's actions, which have relied on a much-criticized article in the constitution to get the controversial project through parliament without a vote. The reform provides in particular for raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 years.
