France sees largest protests yet over new job law
CTV.ca News Staff
Updated Sun. Mar. 19 2006 8:09 AM ET
Across France on Saturday hundreds of thousands of students and workers took to the streets to protest government legislation that would allow employers to fire young workers without explanation.
The protests were mostly peaceful, with only a few skirmishes between police and demonstrators in Paris when youths threw stones at police and flipped over and set fire to a car.
Riot police responded by firing tear gas to disperse the crowds.
Scattered violence was also reported in Marseille, Rennes and Lille, where police also charged and teargassed crowds.
Protests began a week ago when a group of students barricaded themselves into Paris's Sorbonne University in protest of the laws, then clashed with police who tried to forcibly remove them.
Since then unions and student groups have staged demonstrations against the legislation, but Saturday was the first day the groups united in coordinated protests.
Across the country, organizers estimated 1.3 to 1.4 million people took part in 160 demonstrations staged countrywide, with up to 400,000 of them in Paris.
The government's estimate was much lower, claiming only about half a million people were involved.
The student and union groups are demanding the government of President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin withdraw the proposal, which was brought in as an attempt to stimulate hiring and address the country's dismal 23 per cent unemployment rate among young people.
Chirac has maintained his support for the new work contract, calling it "an important element in the policy of fighting unemployment," and adding it "will create new jobs for young people who are today largely left out of the job market."
On Saturday government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope refused to comment on whether the proposed law should be withdrawn, but said "Beyond the passions of the moment, don't we all have an interest in a dialogue?"
The unions and students have vowed they won't even sit down to talk until the conservative government's proposal is withdrawn.
"If by (Saturday night), the government doesn't withdraw this contract, we'll continue," said student union leader Bruno Julliard.
The contentious plan is known as the First Job Contract, or CPE. It would allow employers to dismiss without explanation workers under 26, who they have employed for less than two years.
Organizers of the protests have described it as a "Kleenex contract" because they believe it makes young workers disposable, while undermining France's strong labour laws.
The protests mark only the third time in close to four decades that workers and students have united in protest.
Leaders warned they may call a one-day general strike soon.
In the Paris protests 12 protestors were injured, 14 were arrested and four police officers were injured.
In Marseille, extreme leftist youths climbed the facade of City Hall, replacing a French flag with a banner reading "anticapitalism."
Elsewhere in the country, police had to storm a group of protestors who blocked a rail line, and another group attacked an office of the governing UMP party.
In Lyon, violence broke out unexpectedly when Turks protesting a memorial to Armenian victims of a 1915 massacre crossed paths with those who were protesting the job contract.
The government could pay a political price if it is unable to defuse the growing unrest across the country.
The man who is widely seen as Chirac's preferred successor -- Dominique de Villepin -- is also supporting the new proposals, and his presidential ambitions could suffer if the government is unable to contain the growing protests. He hinted Friday night, however, that he may be open to changes to the plan.
