High still. this is more than two weeks since president macron signed into law those changes that nick was talking about to raise the pension age from 60 to to 64. many of the protests in france, not only in paris but also in other big cities, many of them are very peaceful indeed. but riot police in this circumstance have been pelted with some projectiles and they are firing tear gas and as nick mentioned earlier making arrests in response. let s get a feeling about what has been happening in france in the past few months that has led up to this day. we can speak to a journalist in paris close to whether crashes are. thank you forjoining us, what have you seen if anything? i leit thank you forjoining us, what have you seen if anything? you seen if anything? i left my apartment you seen if anything? i left my apartment and you seen if anything? i left my apartment and i you seen if anything? i left my apartment and i was you seen if anything? i left my apartment and i was not - you seen if anything? i left my
They were not too happy with that. that s why they wanted to talk to a man, because the women were, i guess, being very unreasonable to them. originally, people said there would be no weapons, but there were individuals who carried their weapons. we couldn t do anything about it. we said, it s a peaceful barricade. around 8:30, the police started firing tear gas and concussion grenades at us. concussion grenades, for those who don t know, sound like gunshots. they re quite a loud noise. i had to tell some of the people i was with to run, you know, let s run for cover. it was scary because we didn t know if anyone was killed. you know, on both sides. the police force continued to block the roads, people coming in or out. they prevented food, medicine. they were quite aggressive and always provoking. it was a siege.
We had no weapons. but they still met us with a lot of aggression and a lot of force. what i said to them was that this is our land and we have every right to be here. they were not too happy with that. that s why they wanted to talk to a man, because the women were, i guess, being very unreasonable to them. originally, people said there would be no weapons, but there were individuals who carried their weapons. we couldn t do anything about it. we said, it s a peaceful barricade. around 8:30, the police started firing tear gas and concussion grenades at us. concussion grenades, for those who don t know, sound like gunshots. they re quite a loud noise. i had to tell some of the people i was with to run, you know, let s run for cover. it was scary because we didn t know if anyone was killed. you know, on both sides. the police force continued to block
The pension system solvent. joining us from paris right there is keir simmons. so what are you seeing and what s going on? reporter: that s in the distance, for the last hour, 30 minutes, we have been watching protesters in running with police. we had to back $hup. you can see that the smoke in the distance where protesters are wherever they can find for garbage, even in places across france. and then police firing tear gas. many of the protesters wearing masks clearly ready for what they would have expected today. these clashes in paris and across france, but the union here saying that around 450,000 protesters are on the streets of paris alone.
The front, when the police arrived. the men said they would watch and protect us if anything happened. so, on the morning ofjuly11th, we were interrupted at 5:15 in the morning by a swat team and so we went towards the front of the barricade, towards the highway, with our hands in the air to make sure that they saw we had no weapons. but they still met us with a lot of aggression and a lot of force. what i said to them was that this is our land and we have every right to be here. they were not too happy with that. that s why they wanted to talk to a man, because the women were, i guess, being very unreasonable to them. 0riginally, people said there would be no weapons, but there were individuals who carried their weapons. we couldn t do anything about it. we said, it s a peaceful barricade. around 8:30, the police started firing tear gas and concussion grenades at us. concussion grenades,