CNN
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Protesters stormed an airport in southwestern France on Tuesday as part of demonstrations against the country’s proposed pension reforms, which have sparked widespread protests and paralyzed major services across the country. – what a week.
Videos on social media verified by CNN showed smoke bombs being set off by protesters outside the entrance of Biarritz Airport, and the terminal’s boarding area, before an evacuation announcement was sounded by the speaker.
Tuesday was the 10th day of action against French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to raise the retirement age for most workers from 62 to 64, in a move that angered opposition lawmakers and activists. trade union.
Macron’s government pushed a bill through parliament without a vote last week, after two failed no-confidence votes cleared the way for pension reforms.
The government is pushing ahead with the highly unpopular bill because it says relying on the working population to pay for the growing age group of retirees is no longer fit for purpose.
Blocking airports is a tactic used by anti-pension reform protesters across the country, with terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle airport, north of Paris, also shut down on Thursday morning.
At least four groups can be identified in the footage based on their insignia, including the local Basque trade union and two national associations – the CGT Departmental Union of Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the Fédération syndicale unitaire (FSU).
The FSU – which streamed a live video from Tuesday’s protest inside the airport – is one of France’s main trade unions in the education sector, representing “162,000 members, of which 88% teachers,” according to its website.
The CGT is one of the five major trade unions in the country, with branches all over the country.
CNN attempted to contact FSU and CGT and could not independently confirm how many were at the airport protest or how the event unfolded.