French President Macron Says Will Not Yield to Pension Protests

French riot police officers push back energy workers on strike as they gather in front of the TotalEnergies refinery to protest against the French government's pensions reform, in Gonfreville-L’Orcher near Le Havre, France, on March 24, 2023. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters

PARIS—President Emmanuel Macron on Friday said he would press ahead with reforms, dodging a union leader’s call to suspend a new pension law amid some of France’s worst street violence in years.

There were violent clashes across the country on Thursday evening on the fringes of otherwise peaceful protests that have for weeks gathered huge crowds against a rise in the pension age by two years to 64.