Emmanuel Macron signs pension reform law

France’s President Emmanuel Macron has promulgated his pension reform into law which includes raising the retirement age to 64 after the Constitutional Council on April 14 approved the controversial plan despite months of mass protests that have damaged his leadership.

The Council's decision dismayed and enraged critics of the pension plan. Hundreds of union activists and others gathered peacefully in Paris Friday evening before some groups broke off in marches toward the historic Bastille plaza and beyond, setting fires to garbage bins and scooters as police fired tear gas or pushed them back.

There were also improvised demonstrations and riots in the cities of Marseille, Lyon, Nantes, and Rennes, in the northwest of the country, where a police station was stormed and burnt down, Euronews reports.

"We call on all employees to put this date on their agenda and to come, with their colleagues, their neighbours, their families and their children. It will be festive; it will be important," she added.