'French Spider-Man' scale tower in Paris to protest government

Alain Robert, the climber who does not use equipment and is known as the "French Spider-Man," climbed on Monday, 13, a 187-meter skyscraper in Paris to show support to workers on strike against The Welfare Reform Plans of Emmanuel Macron'sgovernment. The height of the building is equivalent to that of five Christredeemers.

In less than an hour of climbing, Robert, 57, posted himself with his arms erected at the top of the building —known as "Total Tower," home to the French multinational eponymous of the oil industry —located in the commercial district of La Défense.

"It was very cold, I no longer felt the tip of my fingers. And I also don't have the same body I had 20 years ago," said Robert, who does not use any kind of protective equipment before being taken away by police, reported French newspaper Le Parisien.

The Frenchman, who had already climbed the building eight other times, decided to repeat the feat on Monday as a demonstration against the pension reform proposed by Macron's government, which should be presented to Congress from February 17.

"People have spent 40 years working to make a living, usually on something they don't like. We want to continue living decently," Robert said.

Historic strike

France has been experiencing protests and strikes against welfare reform since early December. The National Railway Society, state railway, has already lost 400 million euros (almost 2 billion reais) as a result of the shutdown, which is the longest since 1967.

The Macron government's social security proposal, as presented by its prime minister, Édouard Philippe, on December 11, aims to merge the 42 retirement regimes currently in force in France into a "universal system" of points.

Philippe met with leaders of trade unions calling for the organization of mobilizations, such as the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) and the French Democratic Confederation of Labor (CFDT), on Tuesday 7 and Friday 10. In recent weeks, the government has made a series of concessions to police and military personnel, as well as aircraft pilots and air traffic controllers, allowing them to continue retiring early.On Saturday 11, the government agreed to withdraw "provisionally" one of the most controversial reform measures: the increase in the minimum retirement age from 62 to 64 years by 2027. But Philippe conditioned the definitive withdrawal of this measure to an agreement on "the balance and financing of pensions".

Otherwise, the prime minister said the government "will adopt by decree the measures necessary to achieve balance by 2027." Cgt quickly warned that it was "more determined than ever" to achieve full withdrawal of the reform project, while another more moderateentity, the CFDT, declared itself ready to continue negotiating after the withdrawal of the minimum age.

All unions called a new demonstration for Thursday, January 16.