PARIS – On Saturday, Paris Opera’s musicians and singers have staged an open-air concert in front of the historic opera house as part of a pension reform protest seeking to end their special retirement scheme.
Members of the orchestra and singers performed airs by Verdi and Bizet in the event which lasted half-an-hour outside the Opera Garnier ending with a Marseillaise rendition.
They were cheered on by colleagues including the ballerinas who performed in the same spot for a protest over the pensions overhaul.
The event was received with applause from passersby. Performances by the Paris Opera have been continuously cancelled over the past month due to an artists’ strike regarding the same retirement provisions.
Under a 1698 arrangement, Opera dancers can retire with a full pension aged 42, singers aged 57 and musicians aged 60.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron intends to merge the pension schemes into a single system which has triggered a month filled with strikes.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.