French families, students and private sector workers joined mass demonstrations on Saturday as trade unions ramped up pressure on the government to drop pension reforms. Opposition to President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to raise the retirement age to 62 from 60 showed no signs of abating and hundreds of thousands across the country marched in the fourth round of rallies in as many months, Reuters reported. Unions said that about 2.9 million had marched, while police said the crowds numbered 899,000. The union figure was about the same as at the last demonstrations on Sept. 23. The police figure was slightly lower. About 230 protests took place across the country with a bigger turnout of families, who are less likely to protest on weekdays, and students as concerns about pension reform highlight a deeper anxiety about their future. Until now the protests have been also mostly in the public sector but private sector workers including some from plane builder Airbus and national carrier Air France-KLM joined Saturday's marches. "We are a lot more today than during the week," said Xavier Petrachi, a delegate at the CGT union in Toulouse. "It's got a real family feel, buggies are out. France is protesting." The draft bill, a reform deemed unjust by unions but essential by Sarkozy, will be debated in the Senate -- the upper house -- from Oct 5. A survey published by French daily newspaper L'Humanite showed more than 70 percent of people backed the day of action. Trade unions across Europe are seeking to rally opposition as governments slash spending to dig their way out of debts run up during the global financial crisis. "We need a show of strength," said Jean-Claude Mailly, head of the more radical Force Ouvriere union. "The government is frozen ... they are under the thumb of financial markets." The government says its legislation is essential to erase a growing deficit in the pay-as-you-go pension system, curb rising public debt and preserve France's AAA credit rating, which enables it to borrow at low financial market rates. French Labour Minister Eric Woerth late on Saturday told France 3 television the government still had to educate people about the reform, but it would not budge on its core.
