protests did break out following the announcement by the constitutional council. this is a deeply unpopular law, and it has had a significant impact on president macron's popularity. kim alright, thanks so much for not of us here in paris. but that's toll from russian missile strikes on the ukrainian city of slovyansk has risen to at least nine. ukrainian officials announced that the new number this morning a day after missiles rained down on the city hit seven separate locations, including this residential building, leaving 21 other people wounded. meanwhile the war in ukraine has decimated russia's clandestine special forces known as spetsnaz. that's according to the washington post , citing some of the u. s intelligence documents recently leaked online. they estimate that one spetsnaz units sent 900 troops to ukraine, but only about 125 are still active. now cnn isn't able to independently
may 1st they usually marked by big labor protests is not bashir is live for us in paris or not a after all those weeks of protests. it's a done deal. take us through what happened and what might happen next. came this. there has been weeks of deliberation by the constitutional council. that announcement yesterday, of course, sparking anger by the trade unions and the protesters . essentially this legislation now being brought into force the central element, of course, the retirement age being raised from 62 to 60 for those six minor measures, including in that legislation were struck down, but nevertheless, this is a significant win for president emmanuel macron, as you said that he wasted no time. in signing this into law, and he has already extended an invitation to union heads to meet with him at the elysee next tuesday for further talks on this matter, although we have seen efforts in the past by the government to bring the unions
continue the fight at least one leader calling for historic protests on may 1st day usually marked by big labor protests, bringing cnn's bashir she is live for you in paris, the president not losing any time sign reforms into law as soon as he could. does this now galvanized people to challenge contest this new bill. well that's certainly the message that we've been hearing from the protesters. we've been speaking to, they say they will continue to protest and demonstrate against this legislation. of course, as you mentioned that one of france's largest unions now calling for a historic day of protests on may 1st traditionally labor day here in france president emmanuel macron, according to his spokesperson. from the elysee has invited union heads to meet with him at the elysee next week. although the message that we're hearing from one of the largest unions is that they will
significant amount of anger being directed to towards president macron with regards to the way in which this legislation was forced through president macron, essentially bypassing the lower house of parliament, where his party doesn't hold an outright majority and bypassing a final vote. many of the protesters that we were speaking to earlier this week telling us that they feel this undermines the democratic principles here in france, and of course, you can imagine that this has sparked anger, not just amongst the trade unionists, but other protesters as well. while we have seen this figures in terms of the number of people taking to the streets dwindling over the last few weeks, we still saw a significant turnout on thursday. 380,000 people across france 42,000, according to the interior ministry. here in paris , and there were, of course, once again small pockets of violence, although these protests were on the whole quite peaceful, we did see some scuffles and clashes between protesters and the police. and again yesterday, some small
story with anderson cooper premieres tomorrow at eight on cnn. welcome back to all of you watching us here in the united states, canada and around the world. i'm kim bruun. whoever this is cnn newsroom. president emmanuel macron's plan to change the pension system is now the law of the land in france. about the anger against macron and his plan to raise the retirement age from 60 to 64 is stronger than ever. some protesters lit flares after the nation's highest constitutional court approved the reform. on friday. there were reports of fires and arrests and hours later, macron signed the pension reform into law. the government says the changes are needed to keep the pension system financially sound in the coming years, but union leaders are vowing to continue the fight. at least one leader calling for historic protests on