<Anchor>
Protests against the government's pension reform are intensifying in
France. Amid clashes between police and protesters, the French government has maintained a strong stance that it will not halt reforms.

In Paris, Kwak Sang is a correspondent.

<Reporter>
A large rally against
the government's pension reform was held yesterday (28th) in major French cities such as Paris.

Some protesters set fire and threw objects at police, who responded by firing tear gas again.

[Shahl/protesters: We will continue to protest until Macron's government withdraws or withholds the pension reform law]

More than a week after the pension reform bill passed the National Assembly, the anger of protesters has not abated easily.

Clashes between protesters and police continued in Bordeaux, Toulouse and Rennes, while bus stops and shops were vandalized in Nantes and Lyon.

Following a series of protest violence, the government yesterday deployed 1,3 military and police officers, the largest ever, to the site of the protests, with 5,500 of them concentrated in Paris.

[Sabrina/protesters: Those who commit violence are not ordinary protesters, they are only a minority.]

One of the unions participating in the protest, the Democratic French Labour Confederation, proposed suspending pension reform and appointing a mediator, but Macron's government rejected it.

The pension reform debate is a matter that has already been done in Parliament and we are taking a strong stance that we will not halt reform.

In the aftermath of the general strike that accompanied the protests, major tourist attractions such as the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe were closed in Paris yesterday.

(Video Interview: Si Si Kim)