Teachers, train drivers, pharmacists and hospital staff have gone on strike and teenagers blocked their high schools in France, part of a day of protests against looming budget cuts.

Unions are calling for the previous government's fiscal plans to be scrapped, for more spending on public services, higher taxes on the wealthy, and for the reversal of an unpopular change making people work longer to get a pension.

In Paris, many metro lines were set to be suspended for most of the day except for morning and afternoon rush hour. Pupils gathered to block the entrances to some schools.

"Block your high school against austerity," read a placard raised by a student in front of the Lycee Maurice Ravel high school in the French capital, where the gathering included teachers and workers' represen

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