French public sector strike disrupt schools, hospitals

PARIS — A nationwide strike Tuesday disrupted schools, hospitals and air traffic across France, and nearly a quarter million civil servants took to the streets around the country to protest President Emmanuel Macron’s economic policies.

They’re expressing anger at wage freezes, the axing of 120,000 jobs in public services over the next five years and a succession of spending cuts and labor reforms that Macron argues will boost the economy.

In Paris, the police said they counted 26,000 demonstrators, while the CGT, the main trade union, counted twice that number in the capital alone and hundreds of thousands across the country. The Interior ministry said 209,000 took part in protests nationwide.