France: Lawyers stage courthouse protest against controversial pension cuts

France: Lawyers stage courthouse protest against controversial pension cuts

Caroline Mécary

French lawyers have staged a “lie-in” at a Paris courthouse to protest controversial government plans to overhaul the pension system, which critics say would lead to millions of workers losing out.

The proposals from President Emmanuel Macron would see all French workers placed on a single pension regime with a single retirement age, effectively raising the retirement age in a number of sectors.

Macron also wants to introduce a “points system” where a higher pension rate would be paid to workers who have made higher contributions over their working life.

Lawyer and politician Caroline Mécary said the proposals represent “an attack on the functioning of justice and the functioning of defence for the most modest people”, Euronews reports.

Ms Mécary, who is a practising lawyer as well as a Green member of the Council of Paris, has said on Twitter that the pension reforms would lead to the “disappearance” of a third of the profession.

The pan-European broadcaster has published video footage of the protest, in which dozens of lawyers are seen taking part in a lie-in on the floor of a prominent courthouse, as well as chanting, dancing, raising banners and throwing their robes into a pile.

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