Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron has pledged to protect MPs facing personal threats for supporting his push to raise the retirement age, amid sustained strikes and protests over the pension bill ahead of high-stakes votes in parliament on Monday.

Protesters vandalised the office of the president of the conservative Republicans overnight, in an apparent threat to get his party to block Macron’s pension reform.

Eric Ciotti tweeted a photo of his office in the French Riviera city of Nice with shattered windows after a paving stone was thrown at it. The vandals also scrawled the words “the motion or the stone” – in reference to two no-confidence motions to be voted on Monday in the lower house of parliament.

Other officials have also reported vandalism or intimidation attempts in recent days for their support for the retirement bill.

In response, Macron called the speakers of both houses of parliament to affirm his support for all legislators and said the government was mobilised to “put everything in place to protect them,” the president’s office said.

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Macron also reiterated his wish for the bill to “reach the end of its democratic path in a context of respect for everyone”.

After weeks of mass protests and punishing strikes, Macron last week ordered Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne to invoke a special constitutional power to push the bill through by skirting a vote in the lower chamber of parliament.

In response, opposition MPs filed no-confidence motions against her cabinet.