Tuesday is expected to see significant transportation disruptions in France due to huge strikes and protests that are expected to take place for the second time in a month in opposition to a proposed change that would raise the retirement age.
According to a police source, almost one million people are anticipated to demonstrate against proposals to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 nationally.
Currently, among the major European economies, France has the lowest retirement age.
The largest demonstrations against the proposed shake-up since the last significant wave of pension reform in 2010 occurred on January 19, when 1.1 million people spoke out against it.
On Tuesday, many people may need to use alternate transportation, work from home, or take time off to care for their school-age children. Employees in the transportation and education sectors are among those organising walkouts.
The majority of Paris’ suburban and metro rail services will have significant restrictions, according to RATP, the city’s transportation provider.
Only one in three high-speed trains will operate, which will cause delays for intercity travel as well, according to the national railway corporation SNCF.
Air France, the country’s official airline, announced that it would cancel one in ten short- and medium-haul flights, but that long-distance flights would not be impacted.
On international train services, including the Eurostar, just a small amount of delays is anticipated.
According to the largest teachers’ union, Snuipp-FSU, about half of all nursery and primary school teachers will be on strike.
