The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org. January 20, 2023 Over 1 Million March Across France as Unions Strike to Oppose Cuts to Pensions ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ In France, over 1 million people marched on the streets of cities including Paris, Marseille and Nice on Thursday, as labor unions held a nationwide strike against plans by President Emmanuel Macron to raise the age of retirement from 62 to 64. In Paris, more than three dozen people were arrested after police used tear gas to clear protesters from Bastille Square. This is trade union leader Laurent Escure. Laurent Escure: "We want to have a good retirement. We don't want to retire broke, tired, broken. We want to enjoy our last years with our children, our grandchildren, maybe with our parents, who have to be taken care of. So it is a message of social justice that we want today. If the government does not come to its senses, there will be more strikes to follow. That is why we appeal to reason and not to make the choice of irresponsibility, and to choose the voice of reason." .