Macron hit by pension protests on Dutch state visit
Protesters disrupted a keynote speech by Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday as his domestic troubles cast a shadow over the first state visit to the Netherlands by a French president in 23 years. Demonstrators shouted "Where is French democracy?" and unfurled banners at the start of the address in The Hague by Macron, who has faced violent protests and strikes at home over pensions reforms. The French president is confronting the biggest challenge of his second term over his flagship pension overhaul, which includes raising the retirement age from 62 to 64 and demanding people work longer for a full payout. In The Hague, the demonstrators had stood up in an upper tier of the theatre and shouted "you have millions of protesters in the streets" and held up a banner saying "President of Violence and Hypocrisy". Macron tried to answer as they heckled, and then after security guards had removed them he hit back by saying that people who do "whatever (they) want" against laws they disagree with "put democracy at risk". He added that he was "not sure that the tax payer in the Netherlands will accept that we will finance a long social model in France... so I have to do the job back home." Earlier Tuesday, Macron and his wife Brigitte were greeted by Dutch King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima on their arrival in Amsterdam. The French leader stood to attention alongside them outside the Royal Palace as a band played the Marseillaise, the French national anthem. He later laid a wreath at the Dutch National Monument. The visit is meant to highlight a new dynamic between Paris and The Hague after the turning point of Brexit. In the wake of the speech, France and the Netherlands will sign a "pact for innovation" on Wednesday focusing on cooperation in semiconductors, quantum physics and energy. They will also work to finalise a defence pact by 2024. (AFP)