PARIS, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Dozens of protesters were arrested on Thursday after clashes erupted at Paris demonstration against President Emmanuel Macron's plan to overhaul the current pension system, police said.

In Twitter, Paris prefecture announced that 24 individuals were detained at 18:00 local time (1700 GMT).

In a live broadcast, BFMTV showed some hooded protesters dressed in black daubed anarchist slogans on the windows of several properties and smashed several others in addition to bus shelters.

Police fired teargas at protesters in Paris, where demonstrators hurled projectiles at officers and trailed smoke flares. Similar scuffles were reported in Nantes, western France.

Citing police source, BFMTV said 16 officers were injured following the standoff with protesters in the capital's rally.

In Paris, the fresh day of action drew 370,000 participants, said General Confederation Union (CGT). It numbered 350,000 people on Dec. 17.

The interior ministry counted 452,000 protesters across French cities, of which 56,000 had taken to Parisian streets. They were 76,000 in the last demonstrations in mid-December.

In the latest reform, widely seen as a major challenge to his leadership, Macron proposes to merge the variety of 42 different pension set-ups for different professions into a universal system.

The new single regime would use points so that each euro paid in would give the same retirement benefits no matter what sector pensioners worked in. That meant to scrap the special transport worker status, which allows workers to retire on full pension at 52, a decade before other French employees.

Unions have called for fresh protests on Jan. 11 to force the government into a U-turn. Enditem

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