French President Emmanuel Macron has braved hecklers who shouted for him to resign as he threw himself into the uphill task of repairing damage done to his presidency by forcing through unpopular pension reforms.
The visit to eastern France, close to the border with Germany, was part of a concerted new effort by Mr Macron and his government to put the furore caused by the pension change behind him.
Raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 has ignited a months-long firestorm of protest in France.
The climate of discontent threatens Mr Macron’s ability to get some other planned policies through in the remaining four years of his second and last term.
He got to see first-hand how unhappy people still are when he mingled among a crowd in the town of Selestat.
One man who shook his hand did not hold back and told Mr Macron that his government is “corrupt” – a claim that the president immediately denied.
“You’ll soon fall. You’ll see,” the man said.
Working his way along the crowd, which was kept back by a metal barrier, Mr Macron argued for his pension reform but also acknowledged that it was “unpopular.”
“It doesn’t make anyone happy to work more and for longer,” he said.
Still, he insisted that he would not be cowed from mixing with people.
“I’ve known worse,” he said.
In the background, some shouted “Macron, resign,” or intoned a song that has become an anthem of the retirement protests.
Earlier on Wednesday, during a visit to a company specialising in wooden buildings, Mr Macron was met by a more silent protest.
Legislator Emmanuel Fernandes, of the far-left France Unbowed party, appeared wearing a gag over his mouth bearing the number 49-3, in reference to the constitutional article that the government used to force the new pension age through parliament without a vote.
The hard-left CGT union plans scattered protest actions on Thursday, and all of France’s main unions plan new nationwide protests on May 1 to coincide with International Workers’ Day.
