Posted on 03/28/2006 7:54:52 AM PST by quantim
PARIS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of French transport workers, teachers and other employees staged a one-day national strike or marched through the streets on Tuesday to try to force the government to abandon a new youth job law.
The Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors until the evening, commuters faced delays on trains and Paris underground rail services and airports were hit by stoppages in protest against Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's CPE First Job Contract.
Villepin, 52, stood firm over the plan but the strong turnout increased pressure on him to amend or withdraw the measure and calls for his resignation are growing.
"We're demanding the complete withdrawal of the CPE. You can't treat people like slaves. Giving all the power to the bosses is going too far," said Gregoire de Oliviera, a 21-year-old student in Paris.
Villepin hopes the CPE will reduce youth unemployment from almost 23 percent, but union and student leaders say it will create a generation of "throwaway workers" because it makes it easier to dismiss employees under 26 in a trial two-year period.
Tens of thousands of people rallied in Paris and organisers said 250,000 people took to the streets in Marseille, where banners read "We will not give up" and protesters daubed "Anti-CPE" on their faces.
In Grenoble, in the east, up to 60,000 people protested and 40,000 people protested in Pau in the southwest, unions said.
There were reports of isolated skirmishes but not on the same scale as violence that marred protests last week.
Villepin, a potential candidate in next year's presidential election, faces his biggest challenge since becoming prime minister last May.
Business leaders fear France's image will be damaged if protests continue and that investment and tourism could suffer, particularly because the crisis has erupted so soon after rioting by angry youths in French city suburbs late last year.
VILLEPIN APPEALS TO UNIONS
Unions refused to meet Villepin for talks on Wednesday but he renewed the invitation, telling parliament he was ready to compromise on two points -- the length of the trial period and the terms for giving notice.
"Useful time remains, let's use it for dialogue. But there is one thing that I will not accept ... that is to remain with my arms folded given youth unemployment about which you have never spoken before," he told jeering opposition deputies.
Villepin, a former foreign minister, also faces pressure from inside the ruling conservative Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) headed by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, a likely rival for the 2007 presidential race.
The UMP parliamentary group on Tuesday backed Sarkozy's proposal that the government not rush to enforce the law and so leave the door open for further negotiations.
President Jacques Chirac, who has backed Villepin during the crisis, cancelled a trip to northern France planned for Thursday because of the situation, sources close to the president said.
Opinion polls show almost two-thirds of French people oppose the CPE. Even so, commuters were frustrated by the strike which caused delays on many rail lines.
"Why do you have to make all French suffer," French traveller Patricia said at Charles de Gaulle airport, where several flights were cancelled. "Fine that you're against the CPE. But why block the whole country, rather than talk?"
Mass street demonstrations are closely watched in France after protests over pensions reforms in 1995 which were widely credited with losing the conservatives the snap election called two years later -- in part on Villepin's advice.
Fears of a broader revolt have been fuelled by the incidents in Paris last week including looting, clashes with riot police and the mugging of student demonstrators by hardcore elements.
:-)
Teen battering ram.
Winner. :-)
Yes - got in last night from gay Pareeee just ahead of the mess of today. Thank you for your good wishes.
I like your commentary. Instead of deriding Villepan we should support him, although it would do precious little good. It seems the world is in for a tremendous period of upheaval.
Does anyone know why the "hooded youths" are beating up the "students"?
Exactly, the whole thing sounds like the gas leaking out of a zeppelin, the "protests" will crash and the adults will resolve the problems...
"Welfare states can only last one generation, at most, before economic downward spiral. France is learning this lesson."
Their economists could have easily obtained USA economic data from the 1960's and 70's to avoid these issues. Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. It is the arrogance of the french which is their downfall.
France is inward-looking isolationist turd world country with nukes. It needs to be quarentined before somebody gets hurt.
In the news two months ago it was announced that the French federal govt is borrowing money to makek payroll.
I was simply quoting the CIA factbook asessment from 2005.
If US officials don't do something to crack down on our own illegal riots, we soon will see images like this in our streets.
It is a matter of consciousness.
It is a part of Bible Prophecy.
Yes means No.
Good means Bad, Bad means Good.
Evil is respected, and Good is persecuted.
Worship of self is placed above worship of God.
Lies are true, and the Truth is a lie.
The chain reaction has started, and is spreading.
When it reaches critical mass, well..... you know the rest of the story.
Those bastards!
Well, I haven't heard much about them helping their members with any kind of retirement plan. "BOOM" seems to sum it up...
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