Paris riot police ousted students seeking to occupy Sorbonne university and strikes Friday shut down the Eiffel Tower and two-thirds of French trains — all part of a season of simmering national discontent.

Much of the anger centers on President Emmanuel Macron, but he went on national TV  to declare that strikes and protests won’t prevent him from overhauling France’s economy so it can better compete on the global stage.

Rail workers resumed a strike on Friday and Saturday that disrupted travel off-and-on through June. But the number of striking workers was down from previous actions, and international trains largely went through.

National railway authority SNCF said 80 percent of Eurostar trains between Paris and London  ran on Saturday, and the Thalys trains between France, Belgium and the Netherlands ran  normally. But only one-third of France’s high speed and regional trains ran.

The Eiffel Tower announced it was closed to the public because of a strike by security personnel. Their demands were not immediately clear.

The Sorbonne announced that its iconic Left Bank site was closed Friday for security reasons after the night police operation. While about 200 students were evacuated, a few hundred others gathered outside, chanting angrily at police.

The site was a nucleus of student protests 50 years ago in May 1968, when strikes and university occupations paralyzed France’s economy in a pivotal moment in modern French history.

Students at campuses around France are now protesting admissions reforms that they fear threaten access to public university for all French high school graduates. Macron  dismissed the student protesters as “professional agitators” and ridiculed some of their demands.

While the protesters in 1968 were seeking to overturn old ways, today’s workers and students are fighting to maintain the status quo — including worker rights that Macron says are incompatible with today’s global economy.

Hospital staff, retirees, lawyers and magistrates are also protesting reforms by Macron’s government. To explain his positions, Macron will go on national television again Sunday to answer questions for two hours from BFM television and the investigative website Mediapart.