Paris turns into rubbish dump due to strikes: 'It stinks!'

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 09:21

Paris turns into rubbish dump due to strikes

It is the city of love, the Eiffel Tower and the Mona Lisa: Paris. But if you were to walk through the French capital these days, it is mainly a city full of waste.

There are piles of garbage bags all over the city. That’s because garbage people have been on strike there for two weeks.

It smells!

woman in Paris

Like many other French people, the garbage collectors are angry because they will have to work longer before they can retire. The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, has decided that.

Pension?

When you are 67 years old, you can retire in the Netherlands. Then you receive money from the government every month to live on.

In France, people can retire earlier: when they are 62. The president now wants that to be 64. If people have done heavy work, they are often allowed to retire earlier.

The French have been taking to the streets for weeks to demonstrate against the change. That also happened last night. In some places, the waste was set on fire.

Earlier we made this video about the demonstrations.