French nationwide strike to extend as pension reform fight intensifies

FILE PHOTO: Suburban trains are seen at the Saint-Lazare train station in Paris on the eve of the sixth nationwide day of strike and protests against the pension reform in France with heavy disruption on French SNCF railway and the Paris transport RATP networks, France, March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier

PARIS (Reuters) -France's nationwide strike against a planned pension reform, which disrupted train services, shut schools and halted fuel deliveries, will spill into Wednesday as unions seek to force a government retreat on the deeply unpopular policy.

Around 1.28 million people took to the streets on Tuesday in demonstrations across the country, the interior ministry said, making turnout for the protest day - the sixth against the reform this year - the highest so far.