Macron to speak as anger smoulders over French pension reform

French President Emmanuel Macron is set to give a televised interview on March 22, with the 45-year-old seeking to calm public anger over his pension reform and tamp down spiralling protests and strikes.

Police arrested another 234 people in Paris on March 20 night during tense standoffs between protesters and security forces, a police source said, with several groups burning trash bins, bikes, and other objects, Digital Journal reports citing AFP.

The latest unrest comes after Macron’s centrist government narrowly survived two no-confidence motions in parliament on March 20, meaning the legislation to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 looks almost certain to enter force.

Anger over the government’s decision to invoke a notorious constitutional power to ram the reform through parliament without a vote last week has dismayed many of his political allies and caused fury on the streets.

“The reform is adopted but it is not seen as legitimate in the eyes of French people,” political scientist Jerome Jaffre told France Inter radio on March 21. “That’s a source of problems, of bitterness, and it’s far from being resolved.”

Violent protests also took place in eastern cities Dijon and Strasbourg overnight, while protesters blocked a motorway in southeast France on Tuesday and continued to disrupt traffic around the northern port of Le Havre.

Macron’s office said he would go live to answer questions from journalists from broadcasters TF1 and France 2 at 1:00 pm (1200 GMT) on March 22.