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		</div><p>The biggest strike to hit Paris public transport in more than a decade disrupted tourists’ plans and forced commuters to work from home or find alternative ways to reach the office.</p>
<p>Unions are protesting against plans for a sweeping pension reform by French President Emmanuel Macron’s government.</p>
<p>Paris public transport company RATP said 10 metro lines were closed and several others, including the RER suburban rail, severely disrupted.</p>
<p>Bus and tram schedules were also affected.</p>
<p>On platforms, messages in French and English warned passengers of the strike, the biggest since 2007.</p>
<p>Trains that were still circulating were noticeably less crowded than usual, as authorities advised people living in the Paris region to work from home or choose other means of transport.</p>
<p>The government website monitoring roads showed major traffic jams at rush hour Friday morning in and around the French capital.</p>
<p>Many Parisians and tourists could be seen using city bikes and electric scooters, or simply walking.</p>
<p>RATP employees are protesting against a pension reform planned for next year that is expected to make them work longer before retirement.</p>
<p>At Le Vesinet, west of Paris, commuter Benjamin Royoux said he was “rather pleasantly surprised” to find that there were trains every 15 minutes.</p>
<p>But Mr Royoux, who uses his electric scooter to circulate in the Paris city centre, was worried that there could be more strikes.</p>
<p><em>“One day is going to be OK. But if it continues … we’ll see.”</em></p>
<p>Paris City Hall employee Catherine Reine, also waiting for her RER at Le Vesinet, said she supports the strike <em>“because (transport workers) are very afraid for their future, and I think it’s normal.”</em></p>
<p>RATP employees are among workers from some specific professions who benefit from a special pension regime, currently allowing them to retire on a full pension earlier than most French people.</p>
<p>Mr Macron says the planned changes would make the public pension system “fairer”.</p>
<p>He has promised the legal retirement age will remain at 62 but new conditions will encourage people to work longer before retiring.</p>
<p>The government also wants to apply the same rules to all new pensioners in order to replace the 42 different systems specific to certain jobs.</p>
<p>A junior transport minister, Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, told reporters on Friday that “today there are several special regimes and one general regime that is not sustainable financially, everyone knows that”.</p>
<p>The reform will be formally presented and debated in parliament next year, following a three-month consultation with unions and employers’ groups.</p>
<p>Lawyers, who also benefit from a special pension system, are planning a strike on Monday.</p>
<p>Several left-wing unions are also planning demonstrations on September 21 and 24 in Paris over the pension reform plans.</p>
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