Some 1.7 million opponents of the pension reform, including 450,000 demonstrators in the capital, beat the pavement on Wednesday everywhere in France, according to figures from the General Confederation of Labor (CGT).
The Ministry of the Interior has identified 480,000 people in the streets, 37,000 people in the Parisian procession, according to the police headquarters.
Several key sectors were particularly affected during this day of protests, such as refineries, transport, or garbage collectors who remain mobilized and determined to follow the movement.
On Wednesday, deputies and senators reached an agreement on a common version of the disputed project, with the most decried measure, the postponement to 64 of the legal retirement age.
Thursday, this text will be submitted to the vote of the Senate, where the right-wing and centrist majority should approve it without surprise, then to the National Assembly, where the presidential camp does not have an absolute majority. There, the vote is uncertain: if the right-wing party Les Républicains says it wants to adopt the reform, many rebels in its ranks maintain the suspense.
Since January 19, millions of French people have already demonstrated to express their refusal of this reform carried out by the government, Wednesday having been the eighth day of mobilization.
The increase in the legal retirement age from 62 to 64 increases the anger. Opponents of this text consider it “unfair”, particularly for women and employees in difficult jobs.