Garbage bins, barricades set on fire in Paris as demonstrators protest against Macron’s pension reform

Garbage bins and trash barricades were set on fire in Paris as protesters clashed with riot police on Thursday evening, in response to the French government’s unexpected decision to impose pension reform.

On Thursday, prior to the clashes between protesters and riot police in Paris, thousands of people had gathered in Place de la Concorde, a historic square in central Paris, which was being guarded by police.

In central Paris on Thursday, firefighters extinguished a garbage fire that had been set by protesters at the intersection of Avenue de l’Opéra and Rue Danielle Casanova.

Thousands of people had taken to the streets in France’s capital to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s government imposing a controversial pensions overhaul without a parliament vote.

In the daytime on Thursday, a large crowd consisting of thousands of people gathered in the historic Place de la Concorde in central Paris, right in front of the parliament building.

Riot police were present to guard the area. Later, a fire was ignited in the center of the square, near an ancient Egyptian obelisk that has been standing there for almost two centuries.

In response, the police dispersed the protesters using tear gas and water cannons around 8 pm.