Demonstrators take to streets in Paris before social conference with government

By Hafsa Alami

PARIS (AA) - More than 200 demonstrations from French unions, that are still united more than six months after a battle against retirement reform, met to strike Friday.

The mobilization came days before a social conference is supposed to renew talks with Prime Minister Elizabeth Borne on low wages and careers.

First Secretary of the Socialist Party Olivier Faure urged that the social conference be postponed due to the escalation of tensions in the Middle East.

The General Confederation of Labor (CGT) counted more than 200,000 demonstrators in France -- below the 14 days of historic action against pension reform in the spring where its lowest number was around 900,000 protestors June 6.

“For six months we broke all the demonstration records, here we are not there but we are at a high level,” Sophie Binet, the head of the CGT, told reporters. “The fact that today there are hundreds of thousands of people who are capable of demonstrating and doing strike with a united inter-union, it shows that the anger is intact.”

The number of demonstrators has not yet been announced by authorities.

The protest started at the Place d’Italie and finished at Place Bauban as police surrounded areas and forced people to leave.

Some fighting took place during the demonstration, and an Anadolu camera witnessed the arrest of two young protestors.

Employees called for an increase in salaries, pensions, gender equality and against austerity.

The day of mobilization extended to different sectors ranging from transport to education, including certain doctors' offices.