Mass strikes in France shut Eiffel Tower, trigger clashes

By ANGELA CHARLTON and CLAIRE PARKER
PARIS — The Eiffel Tower shut down, France’s high-speed trains stood still and tens of thousands of people marched through Paris and other cities Thursday in a massive and sometimes chaotic outpouring of anger at the government’s plan to overhaul the retirement system.
Small groups of masked activists smashed store windows, set fires and hurled flares on the sidelines of the otherwise peaceful Paris march, prompting volleys of tear gas from