King Charles state visit to France postponed amid violent pension protests

King Charles’s state visit to France has been postponed amid planned protests over the French government’s controversial pension reforms.

Both France’s Élysée Palace and Buckingham Palace confirmed the trip had been shelved on Friday morning.

The British monarch and Queen Consort were supposed to visit the country from Sunday through Wednesday, and they would have traveled to Paris and the southwestern city of Bordeaux. However a decision to postpone the visit was made after demonstrations turned violent in some areas, including Bordeaux, on Thursday.

Clashes between groups of protesters angry over proposed pension reforms and police broke out after workers staged a national strike throughout Thursday, with flare-ups in Paris and regional capitals. In Bordeaux, demonstrators set fire to the entrance of the city hall during skirmishes with police, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.

The Élysée Palace said in a statement that the King’s state visit “will be rescheduled as soon as possible.”

“In view of yesterday’s announcement of a new national day of action against pension reform on Tuesday, March 28 in France, the visit of King Charles III, originally scheduled for March 26-29 in our country, will be postponed,” the statement read.