Iran Press/ Europe: More than a million people marched in France and strikes disrupted transport and schools on Tuesday during mass protests against French President Emmanuel Macron's plans to push back the retirement age to 64.
The figure suggests the demonstrations were some of the biggest in decades, slightly higher than the 1.27 million estimated during a previous round of protests against the reform on January 31.
Across the country, many protest rallies attracted bigger crowds than previous ones organised since mid-January, including in Marseille, one of France’s biggest cities, authorities and local media said.
There were some clashes on the margins of the Paris rally, and police said 22 people had been arrested.
France’s nationwide strike, which disrupted train services, shut schools and halted fuel deliveries on Tuesday, will spill into Wednesday as unions stepped up their campaign to force a U-turn on a deeply unpopular policy. 219
