Hundreds of railway workers descended on central Paris as strikes against President Emmanuel Macron's reforms to revoke their special status entered their fourth day.

The workers gathered at Place des Invalides, the nearest possible site to the National Assembly, where the debate over the controversial reform was commencing.

Unions have called for three months of staggered strikes, meaning there are few or no trains nationwide for two out of every five days until late June at the earliest.

Some 80 percent of French high-speed trains stood still and about a quarter of international trains, including the London-to-Paris Eurostar, were affected.

Guillaume Pepy, head of the national rail operator, SNCF, estimated that the industrial action had already cost the state-controlled company – and by extension the French taxpayer – €100 million (£87m) and would cost it an additional €20 million per day.