Discreet removal causes social media outrage with claims timepiece is worth €80,000 and he is ‘president of the rich’

Emmanuel Macron has sparked social media outrage after eagle-eyed television viewers spotted him removing his “luxury” watch midway through an interview over his fiercely contested pension changes.

The television appearance on Wednesday came one day before more than 1 million protesters – 3 million according to unions – demonstrated around France to oppose his government raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.

Macron’s decision to push through changes without vote led to widespread protests over weekend

The French government will face a no-confidence vote on Monday, as MPs said they feared for their safety, strike action intensified and police banned demonstrators from parts of central Paris after Emmanuel Macron’s decision to push through an unpopular rise in the pension age without a parliament vote.

Opposition politicians have filed two no-confidence motions in protest at the government using controversial executive powers to raise the state pension age from 62 to 64.

Former banker who promised to reconcile the French people with the political class is accused of worsening disillusionment

When furious protesters in Dijon set fire to a stuffed dummy of Emmanuel Macron, and thousands spontaneously took to the streets in cities such as Paris, Rennes and Marseille this week to protest against the government raising the pension age without a parliament vote, the French interior minister said the chaos “brought back bad memories”.

Indeed, four years after the gilets jaunes anti-government movement, in which people in small towns and the countryside rose up, Macron was once again accused by many working-class voters of disdain for the mood on the street. Politicians from his party were yet again asking for police protection for fear of violent reprisals against them.

Chaotic scenes in parliament and Paris streets as thousands gather in spontaneous protest

• Why are pensions such a political flashpoint in France?

The French government has used controversial special constitutional powers to force through a rise in the pension age amid chaotic scenes in parliament in which radical left MPs sang La Marseillaise at the top of their voices to stop the prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, from speaking.

The president, Emmanuel Macron, took a last-minute decision to avoid a parliamentary vote and instead push through his unpopular plan to raise the pension age from 62 to 64.