Fewer than half of the Paris Metro’s lines were working
normally, according to the RATP public transit network, and about half of
France’s long-distance trains were being canceled, according to the SNCF
state-run rail system.
Many flights were canceled at Orly and Charles de Gaulle
airports, the Paris airport authority said. Post offices and even opera houses
were hit too.
Security was higher than usual at some Metro stations, where
soldiers armed with machine guns were on patrol. In recent days, top officials
have warned that the risk of a terrorist attack on French soil was at a record
high.
The strikes are seen as a test for the conservative Sarkozy
and are being watched elsewhere in Europe, as governments struggle to rein in
costs with unpopular austerity measures after the Greek debt crisis scared
markets and sapped confidence in the entire 16-nation euro currency.
In all, 232 demonstrations were being held nationwide.
Thousands of protesters, many decked out in labor union
T-shirts or brandishing signs, streamed into the Place de la Bastille, the
iconic site of the French Revolution in Paris.
Union leaders are seeking a massive show of popular
discontent, hoping to beat the Sept. 7 protests that brought at least 1.1
million people into the streets over reforms to the deficit-burdened pension
system.
One protest in the southern city of Toulouse drew between
25,000 people — according to regional authorities — and 120,000, according to
organizers. Those numbers were similar to the Sept. 7 protest.
Sarkozy has indicated he is willing to make marginal
concessions but remains firm on the central pillar: increasing the retirement
age from 60 to 62 and pushing back the age from 65 to 67 for those who want
full retirement benefits.
As baby boomers reach retirement age and life expectancy
increases in France, the conservative government insists it must raise the
retirement age so the pension system can break even by 2018.
The leftist opposition sees retirement at 60 as a sacred
symbol of France’s social welfare system. Opposition leaders also insisted any
reforms must make more exceptions for certain categories of workers.
“We must use all the means, all the means at our disposal to
put pressure on the government,” Martine Aubry, head of the opposition
Socialist party, told RTL radio. “But we also think that those who started
working very young, or those who had a hard job must still be able to retire at
60,” “If the government remains deaf, we won’t stop at this,” said the head of
the moderate CFDT union, Francois Chereque, told the Le Parisien daily.
A poll in the left-leaning Liberation daily suggested that
63 percent of respondents supported the strikers, while just 29 percent of
those polled supported the government.
Almost 60 percent opposed the plan to raise retirement age,
with 37 percent in favor, according to the poll, conducted by the Viavoice
agency on Sept. 16 and 17 with 1,002 respondents.
Paris commuter Jeanne Charieres said “people should react”
to the pension reform plans.
“Many things could happen, people are really fed up,” said
Charieres as she attempted to board a Metro at Paris’ busy Gare du Nord station.
The Eurostar undersea train service to London was not
expected to be affected and the Thalys train from Belgium was only slightly
disrupted, with nine in 10 trains running.
While the French capital’s bus lines were running almost
normally, commuters on some Metro lines had to queue up just to get on the
platforms.
Francoise Frugier emerged from Paris’ Saint Lazare station
on her way to work Thursday with one thought in mind: How will she get home? “It’s
a pain every time. I would of course prefer that they didn’t strike,” said
Frugier, 42, a real estate worker. Her husband took a day off to stay with their
two children, because it was unclear whether there would be enough teachers for
their school to open.
“We can’t continue” retiring at 60, she said. “I expect I
will have to work much longer.” Some commuters opted out of public transit,
taking their cars or using Velib, Paris’ rent-a-bike network, including Paris
commuter Xavier Roth.
“Even the scooters struggle to ride between cars, and
walking takes a long time, so for me a bicycle is the ideal compromise,” he
said.
The main teachers’ union said over 50 percent of teachers
were expected to strike, though the Education Ministry put the figure at just
over 25 percent.
At the SNCF national railway, about 38 percent of employees
heeded the call to strike, according to the management. Some SNCF unions have
already called for new strikes beyond Thursday.
France’s lower house of parliament has approved the pension
reform, which goes soon to debate in the Senate.
Even at 62, France would have one of the lowest retirement
ages in Europe. Neighboring Germany has decided to bump the retirement age from
65 to 67.
The US Social Security system is also gradually raising its
retirement age to 67.
- Associated Press writers Angela Charlton and Jean-Marie
Godard and AP Television News reporter Oleg Cetinic in Paris contributed to
this report.
