Because of the strike on pension reform in France, public transport is often at a standstill. Numerous trains have been canceled for a week, many Paris Metro lines are not served. In the midst of this chaos of chaos, a woman has given birth to a child, as reported, among other things, by the newspaper Le Figaro.
"One of our local staff advised her not to take the train, but she insisted," the French state railway SNCF told the newspaper. She had already had difficulties walking, reported "20 Minutes", citing a railway spokesman.
The woman arrived in the afternoon at Paris Gare de Lyon. A few stops later, in Villeneuve-Saint-Georges, her amniotic sac had burst. However, that had nothing to do with the conditions during the trip.
The train stopped according to the report, and the wife gave birth to her child. Mother and child would be fine. The fact that children are born on the trains of the Paris public transport network is recurrent. As a rule, they can travel by train in the capital up to their 25th birthday free of charge.
Controversy over pension reform - tourism suffers
Meanwhile, a new mass demonstration is expected in Paris on Thursday. The public transport companies RATP and the state railway have announced that their trains continue to drive only very limited, many metro stations remain closed. Especially in Paris, the impact is massive, tourism also suffers. Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire announced relief efforts for restaurants and hotels.
Prime Minister Edouard Philippe had announced after weeks of protests that most French people will have to work until the age of 64 instead of 62. However, the reform affects fewer people than expected: police officers and firefighters, for example, are exempt.
"Everyone will work longer, that's unacceptable," criticized union leader CGT Philippe Martinez. Laurent Berger, the chairman of the compromising trade union CFDT, said the government has "crossed the red line". The CFDT announced its intention to strike until December 17.
The unions are particularly enraged because most French people are threatened with deductions from 2027 on their old-age pensions if they want to retire before the age of 64. The statutory retirement age of 62 years does not want to offend the government officially.