French strike over pension plans

People demonstrate in Le Mans, western France as part of a major nationwide strike over plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 Photograph: Jean-Francois Monier/AFP/Getty Images

Services on trains, planes, buses and subways have been affected and post offices and schools have also shut down Photograph: Jean-Francois Monier/AFP/Getty Images

People march on the streets of Marseille wearing stickers that read: 'For a fair reform' Photograph: Anne-christine Poujoulat/AFP/Getty Images

Private and public sector workers demonstrate in Marseille Photograph: Jean-Paul Pelissier/Reuters

A man in Lyon holds a poster reading: 'Strenuousness ... 70 years a regular at Fouquet's; 55 years of regular hard work' Photograph: Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty Images

Parisian commuters wait for a train on a platform at Gare du Nord station. Train services have been cut due to strikes Photograph: Pierre Verdy/AFP/Getty Images

Parisian commuters in a crowded Metro train Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

Commuters looks through the window of a train in Paris Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

Commuters on a train in Paris Photograph: Thibault Camus/AP

A fireman takes part in a demonstration on the streets of Nice Photograph: VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images

A skull on the top of a placard reading 'retired at last' during a demonstration in Paris Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

French trade union members walk past posters showing French Labour minister Eric Woerth and Liliane Bettencourt, France's richest woman and the heiress of L'Oreal empire, reading 'There's no money left for retirement, let's redistribute wealth' and another of Sarkozy reading 'OUT' Photograph: Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images

Protesters march through the streets of Lyon Photograph: Laurent Cipriani/AP

An Arcelor Mittal steel worker dressed in a protective suit demonstrates in Marseille Photograph: Jean-Paul Pelissier/REUTERS