France pension protests - latest: Paris descends into violence as protesters smash shops and riot police storm streets

Today we've seen more than 700,000 people protesting across France, according to the interior ministry.

We've seen violence in Paris and we've reported violence in other cities too.

There has been fire, smoke and tear gas, but most of the rallies were peaceful.

There was some relief for Parisians when waste collectors decided to suspend their weeks-long strike.

But the battle for President Emmanuel Macron continues - his pension reforms (the catalyst for these protests) are still deeply unpopular, and have become just one of many issues angering demonstrators.

By Adele Robinson, news correspondent in Paris

"We'll stay here and fight as long as we can tonight. Then we'll go and set fires across the city"

The words of boys, members of a 'black bloc' group, to our team as riot police stood metres away.

With their faces covered, dressed almost head to toe in black, they spoke to us politely.

Very young but determined, nonetheless, to cause as much disruption as possible.

These were some of the "hijackers" the French government had described as taking over national protests, no matter the cause.

And as dusk fell, chants of "we hate the police" echoed against walls surrounding Nation.

It was the square where tens of thousands finished their march against President Macron's pension reform.

The cross-union protest, which was largely peaceful, deteriorated into a melee of mixed messages, united by anger towards their president.

As dozens gripped the central sculpture "la Triomphe de la Republique" refusing to leave, pop up groups of singing protesters walked around it.

Some shouted criticisms of Mr Macron, others vented their anger at the police and their recent heavy handedness.

Still though, at this point, pension reform demonstrators remained with placards.

As the hours wore on, and the police ordered protesters to evacuate, so they and the hot dog sellers and drums faded away.

Left behind and scattered across the square sporadic bursts of unrest began more frequently.

Firecrackers, smoke bombs, fireworks and projectiles.

Protesters ignited bins and rubbish, even a lamppost.

The water cannon stood threateningly close, as police began to use tear gas to disperse those causing trouble.

Every now and then a snatch squad of officers would rush in with shields, extract an identified protester, and drag them away.

From what we witnessed, the police showed restraint, while slowly and methodically closing in.

They had a plan, and they executed it.

Each way we walked, a wall of riot police gradually moved in, kettling the crowds of hundreds together.

As we left we knew the unrest would not finish in that square, as the boys told us, it would spread in pockets across the city.

But the number of protesters was much fewer than last Thursday's national strike.

The carnage on the streets slightly muted.

It's difficult to know what turn these protests might take next, and if the momentum will last.

What is clear is that, for the majority, this is no longer just about pension reform, and Macron's democratic and political crisis is not going anywhere, just yet.

We've been focusing a lot on Paris, as that is where most of the protests have been.

But let's take a look at what has been going on in some other French cities.

In the western city of Nantes, the boarded-up front of a BNP Paribas bank branch was set on fire. A car was set on fire near the rally. Fireworks were shot at police.

Also in western France, protesters blocked the Rennes ring road and set an abandoned car on fire.

In Marseille, protesters blocked train tracks.

There were clashes between protesters and police at rallies in cities including Bordeaux and Toulouse.

Across the country, there have been rolling strikes in the transport and energy sectors.

The Interior Ministry says 740,000 people protested across the country today - below the record 1.09 million last Thursday.

The numbers in Paris were also below last week's record but higher or equal to earlier demonstrations since January - when the contentious pensions reforms were first announced.

Have a look at some of the video footage we've compiled from today in Paris.

There are still thousands of protesters on the streets of the capital, after a day on which a number of demonstrations turned violent.

Like many Western countries, France funds its state pension through social security contributions - workers pay through their working life in the expectation that they will be supported in their retirement.

But, like national insurance in the UK, a worker is not putting the money into a pot with their name on it - their contributions are funding the retirements of those who are already retired.

Like most Western countries, France is reaching a point where there are concerns that there are not enough working people paying for each retired person.

Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne told the Senate in mid-January: "The ratio of workers to pensioners is going down and that is threatening our system. With this project, we'll guarantee the future of our retirement model."

In general, there are a few possible solutions to the problem.

Get more workers

Increasing the birthrate is difficult for a number of reasons and, anyway, is a very long-term approach.

The other possible way to increase the workforce (and therefore the number of people contributing to the system) is immigration, although this can be a politically delicate issue.

Cut what you pay to those who are retired

That's very difficult to do in a cost of living crisis, and let's not forget that in many Western countries older people are often more likely to vote than younger people (so political leaders are less willing to upset them).

Raise taxes to pay for it

Remember you're raising taxes on younger people, who are struggling with rising costs just like older people are - and are more likely to be paying other costs such as rent/mortgages, childcare, for example.

Younger people could also be looking at an even bleaker retirement pot than their grandparents.

Or you can take on more debt and hope those younger generations will be able to pay it back.

Make people work longer

This means their retirement will likely be shorter and, therefore, less expensive. This is what Mr Macron is trying to do. We're also doing this in the UK.

Western countries have taken many or all of these options to varying extents.

Mr Macron said earlier this month that he made the choice to "make the French work a little longer" because other options would have involved "decreasing pensions, raising taxes or letting our children and grandchildren carry the financial burden".

By Alex Rossi, international correspondent, in Paris

The boulevards of central Paris were once again choking up with the fog of tear gas. 

But even through the haze it's clear this is becoming a significant crisis for President Macron's government. 

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets as part of rolling demonstrations organised by the unions. 

But they soon deteriorated into running battles with the police. 

It may have only been a hard core that took part in the clashes, but the fury is a reflection of anger that is nationwide. 

Some of the protesters hurled bottles, while others sprayed anti-government graffiti on walls, as chants of "everyone hates the police" rippled through the crowds.

President Macron, of course, knew he was in for a turbulent ride with his pension reforms - he has made the policy a legacy issue of his second term in office. 

But by raising the retirement age from 62 to 64, he has touched a nerve with most of the working population and set himself up for what could be a prolonged fight. 

At least 70% of the country is against the legislation, which was forced through using special constitutional powers bypassing parliament. 

The government says reform is necessary. 

With an ageing population the present system is unaffordable but those economic arguments fall on deaf ears on the streets. 

Demonstrators claim Mr Macron is out of touch and only cares about the rich and someone with such monarchical zeal has no place in the fifth republic. 

What happens next is hard to predict. 

The Elysee Palace will be hoping the wave of protests fades but it's also possible the chaos of protests and strikes gains even greater momentum and carries on for months. 

What's happening is also a significant distraction for France and the European Union. 

At a time when its focus should be on the cost of living, Ukraine and the climate emergency the republic is fighting with itself over how long it should work.

 Sky News correspondent Adele Robinson is in Place de Nation in central Paris and has sent her latest update.

She says: "Police have just moved in on protesters and they've been trying to help the fire brigade get to a fire.

"It looks like they've gone in and extracted a protester.

"This is what the police do - they identify people who are particularly violent in the crows and then they go in and extract them."

She says the fire was "quite large...still smouldering over in the distance over there".

Unrest, she says, remains "sporadic but is becoming more frequent".

"The police have used tear gas on the crowds.

"Everyone was running over here, which is why we're here now.

"So things have escalated a little bit."

She described a scene with flares, firecrackers and smoke bombs being thrown.

"We actually spoke some protesters earlier and they said they have intention of leaving, that they would be staying here for as long as possible.

"And also they said that pockets of protest would be popping up through the city in different areas."

Emmanuel Macron's effort to raise the retirement age in France from 62 to 64 has sparked these protests, but what has he said about the subject?

Last week he spoke to two French broadcasters, telling them he respected the rights of unions and people to protest and that the government should take account of their views.

But he criticised the use of violence and threats against public officials, saying: "We cannot accept factions who are unruly".

He has accused unions of failing to negotiate or compromise, adding that he was making his move "out of a sense of responsibility".

Is Macron likely to back down?

Mr Macron is the latest in a long line of presidents who have been trying to get the French to work for longer.

It has been on his "to do" list since he took office in 2017, but previous reforms announced in 2019 were scrapped after industrial unrest.

So the violence that has erupted in recent days is unlikely to have surprised him.

He survived two no-confidence votes in the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament, earlier this month, and this will likely have boosted his confidence.

But even if he doesn't back down over pensions, he could live to pay the price politically over the rest of his four-year term.

According to a poll in Journal du Dimanche reported by France 24 as the protests started, his approval rating sits at 28% - the lowest since the gilet jaunes protests in 2019.

An Elabe poll a few days later found that 68% of respondents wanted the no-confidence vote to pass and 69% believed the use of Article 49.3 to push the pensions bill through parliament without a vote was a denial of democracy.

Earlier Gerald Darmanin, the interior minister, said nearly 13,000 officers had been deployed across the country - nearly half of them in the French capital.

He described this deployment as unprecedented.

Sky News correspondent Adele Robinson is one of our team members in Paris and she is at the scene of a march that was largely peaceful but has turned violent in the past few hours.

She said: "The concern now is what after this - everyone's been told to leave, there are people here.

"We were just in the crowds over there within the last half an hour and they were shouting: 'We hate the police' - nothing about pension reform.

"And I think that's the main issue for the police at the moment, for the government - there are really two sides to this protest.

"One is the unions who are marching and protesting about pensions and President Macron's controversial plans to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

"And the other part is what the French interior minister said yesterday - that there are extremists from the left who have been hijacking the protests."

Meanwhile, these are the latest images from other parts of Paris:

Protesters in France are not holding back in their anger towards President Emmanuel Macron with their choice of placards today.

Several demonstrators were pictures mocking Mr Macron as a king during increasingly tense demonstrations in the capital as bins were set alight in the street and shopfronts were smashed in.

Another protester wore a bag over their head reading "En Marche arriere" - En Marche is the name of Mr Macron's political party and "arriere" means "backwards". 

Clashes also erupted in similar rallies in cities including Rennes, Bordeaux and Toulouse, with a bank branch and cars set ablaze in Nantes. 

However, while public frustration has evolved into broader anti-Macron sentiment, the level of violence today was nowhere near that seen last week and rallies were otherwise largely peaceful.