The BBC's Christian Fraser says President Sarkozy faces a testing few days:
A fifth day of protests in France against proposed pension reforms has brought 825,000 people on to the streets, police say, although unions put the figure at 2.5m to 3m.
The government wants to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the full state pension age from 65 to 67.
Most oil refineries have been hit by strike action, causing fuel shortages at some airports and filling stations.
A further day of strikes is scheduled for Tuesday.
The pension reforms have already been approved by the National Assembly, the lower house of the French parliament.
The upper house, the Senate, has endorsed the key articles on raising the retirement age, and is due to vote on the full text on Wednesday.
Public and private sector workers took part in strikes on Saturday across France, in cities including Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Bordeaux, Lille and Toulouse. Unions had called for more than 200 marches nationwide.
"We are not here to bring France to its knees and create a shortage, we are here to make ourselves heard," Christian Coste, of the CGT trade union, told the Associated Press.
About 30 people were arrested in central Paris, including anarchists and anti-capitalist demonstrators.
They threw flares, set bins on fire and scuffled with police.
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