While the mobilization was once again very strong against the pension reform, the unions will try this month to continue to score points in the street in their showdown with the executive.

Across France, a record number of opponents marched on Tuesday to try to roll back the government on Emmanuel Macron's flagship reform and its postponement of the legal retirement age to 64.

According to the unions, more than 2.5 million people marched in the country.

The Ministry of the Interior counted half as many, but still more than 1.27 million.

More than the first mobilization of January 19, and even more than the historic record of 2010, at the height of the challenge against a previous pension reform.

On the strength of this new success, the eight main French unions have decided to extend the social movement.

Gathered in the early evening at the headquarters of Force Ouvrière, they called for two new dates of mobilization, Tuesday February 7 and Saturday February 11.

In several large cities, such as Montpellier, Nantes, Rennes or Marseille, the participation was higher than that of the first mobilization of January 19.

In Paris, the organizers counted 500,000 demonstrators, when the police headquarters counted 87,000, and the independent firm Occurrence 55,000.

Smaller localities have also shown a resurgence of mobilization, such as Châteauroux, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Sète or Guéret.

Borne hears the "questions" and the "doubts"

"This is one of the biggest events organized in our country for decades", welcomed Laurent Berger, the number one of the CFDT.

Elisabeth Borne, for her part, admitted at the end of the day that her reform “raises questions and doubts”.

“We hear them,” assured the Prime Minister.

The parades generally took place peacefully, under the surveillance of 11,000 police and gendarmes, including 4,000 in Paris.

Some clashes, however, enamelled the course in the capital, giving rise to 30 arrests, according to the prefecture.

Incidents were also reported in Rennes (16 arrests) and Nantes (4).

Fewer SNCF strikers

However, the strike was less followed in several key sectors.

Starting with the SNCF, where 36.5% of agents stopped work on Tuesday, against 46.3% on January 19 from a union source.

The CGT-Cheminots and SUD-Rail, however, called to stop work on February 7 and 8, a prelude to a renewable notice “from mid-February”.

Right during the winter holidays.

OUR REPORT ON PENSION REFORM

The strike also marked time in Education, where the ministry counted at midday a quarter of strikers in primary and secondary schools, while the FSU announced 55% of college and high school teachers on strike.

Fewer strikers also at EDF (40.3% against 44.5% on the 19th, according to management), which did not prevent nightly load reductions in power stations, without however causing cuts.

Exception in this setting, the refineries and oil depots of TotalEnergies have again oscillated between 75% and 100% of strikers according to the CGT, which has already filed a notice from February 6 and does not exclude "a shutdown of the installations" .

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