Turnout halved at French pension protest marches - ministry

Turnout at union-led French demonstrations against pension reform more than halved on Thursday compared with a week earlier, according to interior ministry estimates.

The ministry said that, nationwide, 187,000 people had marched on Thursday, including 23,000 in Paris. That compared with 452,000 people, including 56,000 in Paris, on Thursday Jan 9.

At earlier marches, there were 615,000 people on Dec. 17, 339,000 on Dec. 10 and 806,000 on Dec. 5.