In Paris, near the Place de la Bastille, Thomas Ouvriard, 20, a political science university student, and Ignacio Franzone, 23, a worker at the French post office, hoisted a large poster of Mr. Macron dressed as King Louis XIV looking out with an unflinching stare. “Macron the scornful,” it said.
“Of course in France, we have cut off the heads of kings in our past history,” Mr. Franzone said. “We’re not there yet with Macron, but we’re here to win this fight.”
The perception of Mr. Macron as arrogant and remote, established during his first term, has proved hard to overcome. His zigzagging between right and left, while politically effective in the emasculation of the Socialist Party and the Republicans, long the two main political forces of postwar France, has also alienated some people.
France instituted a retirement age of 60 in 1981, only to retreat, and a 35-hour week in 1997. The degree of social protection is a source of great pride in a country long resistant to the more cutthroat capitalism of what it calls “Anglo-Saxon” economies. It is a measure of the distance between protesters and the government that some labor unions and Mr. Le Pen have called for bringing the retirement age forward to 60 from 62.
Alluding to the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, the far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon declared after she had presented the pension plan: “With a stroke of the pen, Ms. Borne and Mr. Macron are repealing 40 to 50 years of social progress.”
Guy Groux, a labor specialist at Sciences Po’s Centre for Political Research, said the protests on Thursday were a boost for unions, but he cautioned that it was still unclear how long they could keep up the pressure on Mr. Macron.
“The first success is that they are all united, which is rare in France,” Mr. Groux said. “What’s at stake for the unions now is to make the movement last.”
