France ground to a halt as hundreds of thousands of people took part in a nationwide strike against the government's pension reforms.  

Striking transport and education employees were joined by lawyers, airport staff, police officers, firefighters and health workers in the action against French President Emmanuel Macron's reforms, which would result in people forced to either retire later or face reduced pension payouts.  

Thousands more demonstrators are expected in Paris, leading to the Eiffel Tower being closed and the Presidential Palace being barricaded by police. Around 6,000 police have been deployed in the French capital for what is expected to be a major and potentially violent demonstration.  

Students are expected to join the 245 separate demonstrations happening nationwide, as strikers are joined by those wanting to air a range of grievances against Macron. 

France is in the midst of an ongoing year-long protest by the so-called Yellow Vest demonstrators, which have at times become violent. "We know there will be lots of people in these protests and we know the risks. I have requested that systematically when there is rioting or violence we make arrests immediately," said French interior minister Christophe Castaner. 

A special cabinet meeting was called by the country's prime minister, Edouard Philippe, about how best to handle the protest. The widespread action is reminiscent of 1995 when then-PM Alain Juppe was forced to abandon his pension reforms following weeks of strikes.  

Macron, who had refused to comment on domestic matters while at the 2019 NATO Summit, has called for a "universal" retirement system, which put an end to early retirement and would cut pension payouts for workers in 42 "special regimes" – including rail, energy, and France's legal system. 

Unions have argued that, under the proposed legislation, millions of private-sector workers would have to stay in employment beyond the current legal retirement age of 62 to get the pension they had expected.  

The strike is open-ended and could potentially sprawl over several days, with parallels being drawn with France's nationwide industrial action of 1995, when much of the country came to a standstill. 

The CGT Labor federation, the country's biggest trade union, said the walkouts would continue until their demands were met.