France’s Macron signs controversial bill raising retirement age

France’s retirement age will increase from 62 to 64 despite broad and violent protests against the measure, which was pushed by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Macron signed the controversial bill into law Saturday after France’s high court approved the increase on Friday. The government plans to implement the bill by September.

The bill has been met with massive protests from the French people, including a multi-union general strike and violence that shut down city centers around the country for multiple weeks.

Protests sparked up again Friday amid the news of the high court’s decision.

Polls have consistently shown that a majority of French people do not support the measure, which Macron says is necessary given the aging population of France.

Left-wing lawmaker Francois Ruffin castigated Macron on Twitter after the news broke Friday.

“Like thieves, Emmanuel Macron and his gang enacted their pension law in the middle of the night,” he said. “Because they know it well: what they have just practiced is a democratic hold-up. This brutality marks, in fact, their fragility. They are already a thing of the past.”

“Their world is dead. We are strong. We are the future. We are millions. We will show it by an immense (Labor Day protest),” he added.

Opponents of the bill, including multiple unions, have already committed to massive protests for Labor Day, May 1.

Macron’s government pushed the bill through last month without a majority of votes in the French Parliament, using special constitutional powers.

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