Mostly calm on Paris streets, garbage still piled up

A spattering of protests were planned to continue in France over the weekend against President Macron’s controversial pension reform, as garbage continued to reek in the streets of Paris and beyond owing to continuing action by refuse collectors. An eerie calm, returned to Paris Saturday after two nights of thousands-strong protests across the French capital saw police disperse crowds with tear gas and water cannons, and hundreds of people were arrested. Protesters are trying to pressure lawmakers to bring down French President Emmanuel Macron’s government and doom the unpopular retirement age increase he’s trying to impose without a vote in the National Assembly.