France's Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne vowed on Thursday to carry on despite a bruising day of political manoeuvres in which she deployed the emergency powers of Article 49.3 to sweep the government's controversial pensions reform bill through the National Assembly.

Borne blamed MPs in the Les Republicains (LR) party for the last-minute decision to avoid a vote in the lower house of parliament and unleash what is considered in French political circles as the nuclear option.

Article 49.3 allows a government to bulldoze legislation through without the need for approval from the National Assembly.

"Some members of the LR group played a personal card and went against their group," Borne told TF1's 8pm news programme.

"The numbers might not have been there for the bill to pass," she added. "We couldn't gamble on it."

Borne, who took over as prime minister last May, said she was shocked by the jeering in the National Assembly when she prepared to announce the adoption of Article 49.3.

"Parliament, the National Assembly, is the place for debate," Borne added. "If we don't want to listen to each other, it reflects the fact that a number of groups do not respect our institutions.

"The chaos, the disorder, it is the ordinary French person who will pay for it."

Protests

After the government's move, thousands took to the streets of Paris, Marseille and Lille to protest against the measure.

Riot police deployed water cannons and made eight arrests after demonstrators attempted to deface the Obelisk site in the middle of La Place de la Concorde in Paris.

In Marseille, rampaging mobs ransacked several stores in the city centre and smeared offensive slogans on the facades of several banks before dispersing into side streets.

Unions opposing the proposals to raise the retirement age to 64 from 62 called for a nationwide day of strikes on 23 March. Millions have taken to the streets since Emmanuel Macron was re-elected last April with the pledge, inter alia, to revamp the country's unwieldy pensions system.

"This bill is, I think, the best proposal we can make," said Borne during her 15-minute TV interview.

"In any case it integrates everything that we have been able to report as particular difficulties, such as long careers or difficult jobs.

"I am well aware that it is an effort to ask the French people to work two years more," added Borne.

"Maybe some people want to believe that we can finance everything by debt. It is not a serious option."

On Thursday night, LR party chiefs refused to become the scapegoats for the political meltdown. "The use of 49.3 is a sign of failure of the government," said LR boss Eric Ciotti.

"There have been errors over the method for many months and inaction for years," he added.

"Emmanuel Macron's party was not united and unanimous. That's why there was no majority."

Originally published on RFI