Thousands of people have joined demonstrations across France, two and a half months since weekly protests began in opposition to pension reforms.

But the numbers were drastically reduced from previous demonstrations.

The opposition has suffered from 'protest fatigue' from some people who had originally joined marches in December and January.

Schools in the Paris region are also on holiday at the moment meaning many would-be marchers stayed at home with their children.

Furthermore, some union members who have been on strike since December now cannot afford to take part in industrial action every week.

However, many of the protesters have seen French leaders cave in to union pressure and social movements before and they still hope they can force the government's hand.

Bertrand Dumont, the co-secretary of one of the unions for employees of the Paris Metro system, told CGTN that "when you are on your 50th day of striking you don't want to lose."

"So we need to stay on the streets and keep people here. And hope other groups such as students or dockyard workers will gather in big numbers."

MPs began debating the reform bill in parliament on Monday and the proposals would see a single points-based system introduced, to try to simplify the current labyrinth of 42 different sector-specific pension schemes.

President Macron admits that the French are going to have to work longer, but he did also commit in his 2017 manifesto not to raise the retirement age from 62.

Those who oppose the plans argue that workers will end up worse off under the new system because currently the state makes up for the shortfall between contributions and payouts.

Unions are also worried that they will lose their say on benefits under a centrally-managed, points-based system.

Adrien Lienard, from the UNEF student union, told CGTN that he felt the impact of the reforms on future generations was not being taken into account.

"The voice of youth is important and is being considered by unions but not by the government.

"The reform will affect someone's whole working life and not just the best-paid years of their career.

"Student jobs are usually not well paid so we are losing a lot in our pensions fund."

The government is hoping to get enough votes to clear the lower house within the next month and then it can send the bill to the senate for approval.

President Macron says he hopes that the bill can become law by the summer.

But more than 40,000 amendments to the legislation have been lodged so far, meaning many MPs think the current timetable put forward by the government is unrealistic.