Tear gas used in Paris as unrest grows in French protests

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne has invited trade union representatives to meet her next week, French media report.

The secretary general of the CFDT union, Laurent Berger, is reportedly in favour of meeting to discuss pensions and work - the matter at the heart of the protests.

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Nacira Guenif, professor of sociology and anthropology at the University of Paris 8 Vincennes - Saint-Denis, says Macron has not been the solution but the main problem:

Quote Message: There is another way to feed the pension system, by raising the taxes, which is something that has never been addressed. The president does not understand that the population is knowledgeable about other ways of conducting this reform for pensions. That’s why he completely is at odds with what’s happening on the streets." from Nacira Guenif

There is another way to feed the pension system, by raising the taxes, which is something that has never been addressed. The president does not understand that the population is knowledgeable about other ways of conducting this reform for pensions. That’s why he completely is at odds with what’s happening on the streets."

Asked what is motivating younger people to come out to the streets, Guenif tells BBC News: “They are seeing how their parents and grandparents have a life of work and they deserve to have a decent pension.”

“Interestingly, they connect this issue to other issues which are as huge for them as the pensions issue,” she continues:

Quote Message: Global climate change for example. They know their world will not be the same as their parents experienced. This is something the French president is not taking into account. He remains deaf to the fact they see their future.”

Global climate change for example. They know their world will not be the same as their parents experienced. This is something the French president is not taking into account. He remains deaf to the fact they see their future.”

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Moira Dineen is in her 60s and has been out demonstrating today.

She says she could have retired in 2019, but didn’t want to lose any money as her salary has only increased minimally over the past 20 years.

“I do feel very concerned about the situation of other women and other men and women in France who have seen their salaries stagnate,” she told the BBC.

“If you decide to look for work in your late 40s/early 50s, it’s very, very difficult.

"It’s hard to find another job and this makes it very difficult to accept this very incoherent explanation on the part of the president, who says we will not talk about this.”

Dineen adds President Macron has not shared power sufficiently and is now refusing the unions’ “rational and reasonable” attempts to get him to do so.

While she accepts that he hasn’t made a secret of his desire to reform the pension system on the campaign trail, she says he was elected as an alternative to the far-right rather than because anyone wanted to change the retirement age.

Just a few minutes ago, we brought you reports that a new 11th day of strike action, on 6 April, had been scheduled by unions in France - something we can now confirm.

The new date means that strike action will continue into April, when France's constitutional council - a court which reviews the constitutionality of legislation - is set to rule on the pension reform law.

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Police are currently dispersing the crowd of protesters at Place de la Nation in Paris, where large numbers have gathered at the end point of today's demonstration in the capital and where a fire has been started.

Lots of tear gas is being used by the police, while a water cannon is also en route, says BBC reporter Marianne Baisnée, who is there.

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A new date for the next round of protests has been scheduled for 6 April by trade unions, according to French media reports.

We'll bring you more details when we have them.

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Protesters have taken to the streets in France for a 10th day of protests over a controversial pension reform law which raises the retirement age from 62 to 64 years old. Here's a summary of what's going on:

• Police say there have been 27 arrests so far today in the capital, Paris, during the main demonstration which started there at the beginning of the afternoon
• Footage of the protests show some demonstrators and police clashing in the capital, with fireworks appearing to be thrown at police and tear gas used on some demonstrators
• Earlier, striking railworkers walked along the tracks at one of the capital's biggest train stations, Gare de Lyon
• One of the main trade unions - the CGT - says nearly half a million protesters have attended the Paris protest, while the city's police force says some 93,000 people were at the demonstration today
• The interior ministry, meanwhile, has said that some 740,000 attended the pensions protests nationwide, compared with more than one million last week; but the CGT says more than two million came out to protest today

• There have also been clashes in the western cities of Rouen and Nantes - a vehicle was set on fire in the latter

• Traffic has been brought to a halt by protesters in other cities, including the north-western city of Rennes, where rubbish has been set alight
• Demonstrations have also been taking place in many other large cities, including Lyon and Bordeaux
• A record number of 13,000 police officers have been deployed across the country, with the interior minister saying ahead of the protest he anticipated "a very serious risk to public order"

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Some of you might be wondering how many people have been out on the streets protesting today across France. Well, there is some discrepancy surrounding the figures.

France's interior ministry says 740,000 attended protests nationwide. But the CGT union, one of the largest in France, says the crowds were much larger, with more than two million coming out to protest.

The CGT earlier said some 450,000 people had come out on the streets of Paris alone. But the police said 93,000 people were in attendance.

Of these, police said 27 have now been arrested in the capital.

There is usually some divergence between police and union figures when it comes to protest numbers.

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Natalia Pouzyreff is an MP for President Macron’s Renaissance party and says the increasing violence at the protests is concerning and that the government wants to deal with the situation “by renewing the social dialogue” with unions to try and restore the peace.

But that doesn’t mean rowing back on the changes to the retirement age.

“This pension reform is unpopular because nobody wants to see the retirement age increase, although it’s really necessary to balance the budget,” says Pouzyreff.

She is appealing to the public to continue protesting peacefully and not to resort to violence.

When asked if she thinks it was a mistake to push the reforms through the lower chamber of parliament without a vote, which has further angered people, Pouzyreff says: “The method could have been different.”

She adds the government “would have preferred to go through a normal voting procedure”, but says that a negative vote would have prolonged the reform becoming law and therefore increased the risk of the country sliding into a financial deficit.

Pouzyreff also says pausing the plans to push the retirement age back wouldn’t help the situation for the same reason.

Police in Paris have clashed with protesters and fired tear gas at them. They were also seen charging towards people near a fire set alight on a Parisian street.

And people sat outside a cafe watched on as protesters kicked away the tear gas cannisters.

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Some 93,000 people have attended the demonstration in Paris today, according to the capital's police force.

They also say some 23 arrests have been made during the protests as of 18:00 (17:00 BST).

Earlier, we reported that one of the country's main trade unions had said nearly half a million had attended. Police and trade union figures are often at odds when it comes to protests.

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Salomé turns 22 today. She wants other young people like herself to gather and send a signal to President Macron that they won’t be intimidated by police.

She tells the BBC that she and other protesters were charged by police and she was arrested.

“They tripped me up and I hit my head on the ground,” she says.

“I was handcuffed for no reason. Then I was brought with other people sitting in line, half of them also handcuffed, and they [the police] started to threaten us and intimidate us.”

She says one of the other protesters was black and he was subjected to racist jokes and sexual innuendo.

“I was totally pacific and they was no reason to arrest us.”

We're now getting some fresh pictures from demonstrations across France, which were off to a calm start.

But now, protesters have begun clashing with the police in increasingly violent scenes.

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As we reported earlier, protesters brought traffic to a halt in Rennes during unrest over pension reforms.

Footage shows smoke billowing across the city's ring road as burning rubbish caused a huge backlog of traffic.

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We're now hearing that as of 15:45 BST (16:45 local time), some 22 people have been arrested during demonstrations in the French capital, Paris police say.

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While we've been reporting on demonstrations taking place across the country, strike action at France’s oil refineries by unions opposed to the government's pension reforms is now in its third week, with fuel depots also being blockaded.

Production has stopped at France's two biggest refineries and forced three others to operate at reduced capacity. Two others are currently closed for repairs.

It means that about 17% of all fuel stations throughout the country are now missing at least one product, according to France's petroleum association (UFIP).

Brittany and Normandy in the north and much of the area around the Mediterranean coast have been especially hard hit by the shortages.

Protests against pension reform are continuing, and affecting different parts of the country differently.

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You can watch a live feed of the protest rally in Paris by tapping the Play icon at the top of this page.

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There are around 450,000 people protesting in Paris today, on what is the 10th day of action, the CGT union has said.

But this is significantly less than the estimated 800,000 who the union said were on the streets last Thursday.