France’s main labor unions are staging a nationwide strike today to oppose plans by the government to increase the minimum retirement age from sixty to sixty-two. Over 1,500 gas stations have run out of fuel following the shutdown last week of the nation’s oil refineries. Trains are running on half service, and many schools have closed down. In Paris, young protesters put up barricades in the streets to block traffic.

Madhia, French high school student: “We, high school students, aren’t happy. We’re not in a majority, we don’t represent everything that’s happening in France, but we really want to show with this little action that the demonstrations that are taking place, all the blockades, everything that’s taking place in the high schools, all of that, we want to show how unhappy we are and to show that we’re being placed in danger by these policies.”