This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 71%. (I'm a bot)

> French President Emmanuel Macron shunned parliament and opted to push through a highly unpopular bill that would raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 by triggering a special constitutional power on Thursday.

> The decision was made just a few minutes before the vote was scheduled, because the government had no guarantee that the bill would command a majority at the National Assembly, France's lower house of parliament.

> As lawmakers gathered in the National Assembly Thursday to vote on the bill, the leftist members of parliament broke into the Marseillaise, the French national anthem, preventing Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne from speaking and prompting the speaker to suspend the session.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Feedback | Top keywords: bill^#1 parliament^#2 government^#3 Macron^#4 French^#5