‘French Spiderman’ climbs building in protest of pension law

His “spidey senses” called him to protest.

Urban climber Alain Robert, aptly nicknamed the “French Spiderman,” scaled a 38-story skyscraper in Paris Wednesday in support of those protesting against a deeply unpopular pension law that will raise the age people can retire in the nation.

“I’m here to show my support for those who oppose the pension reform,” Robert told Reuters before he began mounting the 492-foot skyscraper in Paris’ La Defense business district.

The 60-year-old climber performs his stunts without a harness, using only his bare hands and a pair of climbing shoes.

“I’m here to tell (President) Emmanuel Macron to come back down to earth … by climbing with no safety net,” Robert said.

Robert noted he, like many others protesting, is affected by the pension reform that France’s Constitutional Council approved on Friday, raising the retirement age from 62 to 64.

The urban climber said that the issue is compounded by the loss of income due to the COVID pandemic, meaning he will have to continue working — and climbing — for longer now since he is just short of the current retirement age.

Robert has scaled more than 150 towering structures worldwide, including Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which is the world’s tallest building.

He has also mounted the Eiffel Tower and San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge.

In 2019, he climbed a 607-foot tall glass skyscraper in France to raise money for the renovation of Notre Dame Cathedral.

For months, incensed French citizens have taken to the streets in protest of the change.

Some have become so enraged by the legislation they have set police cars in the streets aflame as well as Bordeaux’s historic town hall.

After the decision was made Friday, crowds marched through Paris into the evening, some setting trash bins on fire. In the northwestern city of Rennes, enraged protestors set the entrance to a police station on fire.

Public outrage over the law has increased, especially since the government, which does not have a majority in parliament, controversially pushed through the bill in March without a final vote.

Macron has said the change is needed to avoid billions of euros of deficit each year by the end of the decade.

The controversial legislation is set to take effect on Sept. 1.

The move has also sparked anger among trade unions, with some calling for workers to come out in protest on Labor Day, May 1, though other actions are planned for earlier in April.

With Post wires