On Friday, angry protesters took to the streets for a second day in Paris and other cities in an effort to persuade lawmakers to overturn the government of French President Emmanuel Macron and put an end to the unpopular retirement age increase that he is attempting to impose without a vote in the National Assembly.

Legislators from both the right and the left filed no-confidence motions that will be decided on Monday, a day after Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne used a special constitutional power to avoid a vote in the chaotic lower chamber.

A festive protest by several thousand people at the elegant Place de Concorde turned into a scene that was the same as the night before, complete with chants, dancing, and a huge bonfire. After troublemakers climbed scaffolding on a renovation site and armed themselves with wood, riot police charged and fired tear gas to clear the huge square next to the National Assembly. In a standoff, they threw fireworks and paving stones at police.

The area was evacuated on Thursday night by security forces charging and using water cannons, and then small groups started street fires in chic neighborhoods nearby. According to radio station RTL, 310 people were arrested overnight, the majority of whom were in Paris.

Generally little, spread fights were held in urban communities around France, from a walk in Bordeaux to a convention in Toulouse. Port officials in Calais briefly prevented ships from crossing the English Channel to Dover. Protesters occupied a busy ring road around the French capital and blocked some Paris university campuses.

In the French capital, garbage collectors extended their strike for a 12th day, resulting in piles of stinking garbage growing daily. Striking disinfection laborers kept on hindering Europe's biggest cremation site and two different destinations that treat Paris trash.

Among those who shared the news of Friday's Paris protest on social media were some yellow vest activists, who had previously staged massive demonstrations against Macron's economic policies during his first term. That's what police say "radicalized yellow vests" are among miscreants at fight walks.

The opposition's organizing trade unions urged protesters to remain calm during subsequent strikes and marches. They have urged people to leave schools, factories, refineries, and other places of employment in order to compel Macron to abandon his plan to require French citizens to work for two more years until they are 64 in order to receive a full pension.

Macron took a calculated risk by instructing Borne to use a unique constitutional power that she had previously used ten times without eliciting such a fury.

The bill becomes law if the votes of no confidence are defeated. The retirement reform plan would be put on hold and the government would be forced to resign if a majority of people agreed, though Macron could always appoint Borne again to name the new Cabinet.

"The only way that we will get them to back down" is to fill the streets with discontent and stop working.

Macron has made the proposed changes to pensions the top priority of his second term. He says that reform is needed to keep the pension system from going into deficit and make the French economy more competitive. Like many richer nations, France has higher life expectancy and lower birth rates.

The bill was approved by Macron's conservative allies in the Senate; however, frantic counts of lower-house lawmakers on Thursday indicated that there was a slight risk that it would not receive a majority, so Macron decided to use Article 49-3 of the constitution to avoid a vote.

It will be challenging to pass a no-confidence motion because Macron's centrist alliance still holds the most seats in the National Assembly and none have succeeded since 1962. It's possible that a small number of conservatives will depart from the Republican party's stance, but it's unclear whether they will be willing to overthrow Macron's administration.