Avec Moi, Le Déluge

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Paris and other cities saw violent clashes between protesters and police over the weekend after French President Emmanuel Macron used executive privilege to adopt a deeply controversial pension reform, France 24 reported Sunday.

Police arrested more than 300 people over the weekend, mostly in Paris where on Saturday night police closed the Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Élysées to protesters, who had been hitting the streets since Thursday when the parliament’s upper house adopted a bill increasing the retirement age for a state pension.

The draft law, which would raise the minimum retirement age by two years to 64, still needed to go through the lower house for another vote, but Macron used an article in the constitution to force the bill through, Euronews added.

On Monday, Macron faces a vote of no-confidence that could bring down his administration, though analysts say that is unlikely.

The contentious law had already ignited weeks of protests and strikes across France, with critics saying the changes are unfair to those who start working at a young age in physically challenging jobs, and to women who interrupt their careers to raise children.

The government counters that the reform is necessary to ensure France’s pension system does not go bust.

Macron made the reform a centerpiece of his successful re-election campaign last year, but he lost his parliamentary majority in subsequent polls, owing in part to opposition to his pension plans.

Opinion polls show that more than two-thirds of French people oppose the bill.

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