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20:20 GMT
PARIS, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- Police and Union organisers on Thursday disputed the turnout levels of the national protest earlier in the day which took place in Paris and several other major cities, media and official sources indicated.
While organisers claimed that 1.5 million marchers turned out throughout France to protest reform of the retirement system, the French Interior Ministry contradicted that estimate, saying the national turnout was only 806,000.
Similarly in the French capital, organisers claimed a turnout of 250,000 in the rally that crossed the city, but official sources at the Interior Ministry said the figure was 65,000.
The police figures appear to me more realistic for Paris, given that an independent organisation cited by France 24 TV evaluated the turnout in the capital at just over 40,000.
The battle for the figures is classical between government and protesters and is used largely in public information and promotion campaigns.
Meanwhile, the strike continues for at least three more days, during which commuters and Christmas shoppers will face nightmare conditions to get around their cities.
In 1995, transport and other unions carried out a similar strike for three weeks, forcing then President Jacques Chirac and his Prime Minister Alain Juppe to back down on a retirement reform similar to what President Emmanuel Macron is proposing today.
It is still unclear if Macron will face the same fate as his predecessors, but the government of his Prime Minister Edouard Philippe is to fully explain the reforms to the country in the middle of next week. (pickup previous)
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