PARIS — Hundreds of thousands of protesters young and old demonstrated in France on Saturday, waving union flags and pressing conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy to drop plans to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62. It was the third day of protests in a month.

Unions tried a new tactic, scheduling the protest for a Saturday instead of a weekday to draw families, youths and private-sector employees who don't show up during the workweek. Pockets of students marched among the unions, and some parents carried children on their shoulders.

France — one of many indebted European countries trying to scale back spending — says its money-losing pension system will collapse without reform. The government casts the plan as the only responsible course of action and insists people need to work longer because they are living longer.

French unions, however, see retirement at 60 as a firmly entrenched right in a country attached to generous state benefits.

Police put nationwide turnout at 899,000, down 10 percent from protests Sept. 23. But unions said the movement was going strong: The CFDT union said 2.9 million protested, on par with last time.

"There are more and more people who are against this injustice and want to send a strong message to the government — this is the last opportunity to change this draft reform and to make it more fair,"' said CFDT head Francois Chereque.

Paris protesters marched past the site of the former Bastille prison, the famous revolutionary site.