France saw protests and strikes against unpopular pension reforms on Tuesday, with tens of thousands taking to the streets.

Police increased security measures after the government warned of radical demonstrators with intentions to cause harm, the Associated Press reported.

To prevent violence during the demonstrations, an unprecedented deployment of 13,000 officers, nearly half of them concentrated in Paris, was implemented. The police faced down ultra-leftist radicals in the capital.

Sanitation workers in Paris announced that they are suspending their more than three-week-long strike that has left piles of garbage uncollected on the streets.

The CGT union, which organized the strikes, said that workers will return to their jobs Wednesday because “we hardly have any strikers left.”

It is unclear whether private companies responsible for keeping some Paris districts clean will return to work, as reported by the AP.

The CGT reported a decrease in the number of Paris demonstrators on Tuesday after a record high of 800,000 five days earlier.

Written by staff