French demonstrators hit the streets in record numbers in their latest protest Tuesday over President Nicolas Sarkozy’s attempt to shake up the pension system, and striking transport workers badly disrupted trains.
The reform pits Sarkozy against powerful unions which crushed a 1995 attempt to reform the system in a country that is fiercely attached to its generous social benefits system.
Unions said 3.5 million people joined street marches, up from their estimate of 2.9 million in the October 2 demonstration, while the interior ministry put the number at 1.23 million, a rise of nearly a third.