Alwaght- French train workers blocked on Monday one of the few subways functioning in Paris and clashed with police on the 19th day of nationwide strikes over Macron government’s plans to raise the retirement age to 64.
According to Associated Press, dozens of union activists passengers from boarding in the historic Gare de Lyon train station and spilled them onto the streets around the station, further disrupting a key travel hub after more than two weeks of transportation trouble around the country.
Images on French media and social media showed activists jumping and chanting and waving union flags as they moved through the subway station, engulfed in red smoke from the flares they were waving.
The activists targeted one of only two Paris subway lines that has continued functioning amid the strike, because it has automated trains that don’t need drivers. The city transit authority subsequently shut down the line because of the protest.
The government is negotiating with unions about the retirement reform, which President Emmanuel Macron has championed to keep the state pension system financially sustainable. Unions say it threatens the idea of the welfare state.
