Sarkozy stands firm on pensions reform as protests escalate

French president Nicolas Sarkozy vowed that he would not back down on his plan to raise the retirement age in France, ahead of another day of strike action in France. Protests escalated on Monday with strikes disrupting oil supplies and youths clashing with riot police in Paris suburbs.

School students attend a demonstration over pension reform in Paris Reuters/Benoit Tessier

“This reform is essential. France is committed to it. France will carry it out, just as our German friends carried out a pensions reform a few years ago,” said Sarkozy at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Unions have called for a day of strikes and mass demonstrations on Tuesday to protest Sarkozy’s plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62.

The coming days are seen as decisive for Sarkozy as protests escalated on Monday against the pensions reform.

Masked youths set a car on fire, smashed bus stops and threw projectiles outside the Joliot-Curie school near in Nanterre. This after students joined protests last week.

Police reacted with tear gas at the school, which is one of 261 in France that officials said were affected by protests against the government’s reforms.

The clashes raised fears of a repeat of large student demonstrations against the introduction of the CPE a new work contract for under-26s with a two-year trial period in 2006.

Strikes have also hit fuel supplies with eleven out of France’s 12 oil refineries disrupted by strike action on Monday. Many fuel depots were also blocked by picketing.

About 1,500 petrol stations had run out of fuel, according to the industry association. That represents around 12 per cent of French petrol forecourts.

Despite the inconveniences, most French back the current protests, with a poll published Monday in the popular Le Parisien daily showing that 71 percent of those asked expressed either support or sympathy