French riot police remove a child's bicycle after it was thrown at them during a nationwide protest demanding the government scrap a youth jobs law during a demonstration in Place de la Republique in Paris March 28, 2006.
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.
French riot police remove a child's bicycle after it was thrown at them during a nationwide protest demanding the government scrap a youth jobs law during a demonstration in Place de la Republique in Paris March 28, 2006.
Thanks for all the pics, there are a lot now starting to show up.
I keep flipping to CNN and the others - they don't seem to be covering the story unless I just keep hitting the commercials.
"I now they are a welfare state, but how do they have the money to afford it. Anybody know anything about the French economy."
Yes, it is socialism that will collapse upon itself in the next 5-10 years. Eventually, companies that are private will either leave or the government will take them over. At that point you can stick a fork in the French.
You're welcome. .. I didn't see a Live Thread, per se, so I put them here.
The coverage on fox news has been excellent.
Can you add 'Live Thread' to the title?
Well then Gregoire here's your opportunity to start yuor own business and emancipate yourself.
French riot police apprehend a youth during clashes at the end of a student and union protest against youth job law First Job Contract (CPE) in Paris March 28, 2006.
Riot police officers, arrest a protester after a march against the first job contract law, known as CPE, Tuesday, March 28, 2006 in Paris.
French plainclothes police apprehend a youth during clashes at the end of a student and union protest against youth job law First Job Contract (CPE) in Paris March 28, 2006.
Hooded youths from the poor suburbs of Paris throw projectiles at riot police during a nationwide protest demanding the government to scrap a contentious youth jobs law during a demonstration in Place de la Republique in Paris March 28, 2006.
French riot police apprehend a youth during clashes at the end of a student and union protest against youth job law First Job Contract (CPE) in Paris March 28, 2006.
THANK you! :)
I thought they'd be out of cars by now...
Call me crazy .. but I'm thinking rioting, destroying property and burning cars isn't gonna help their cause
I'm thinking it's gonna have the opposite effect
The way I'm reading that book title (and my French is limited) it says: "Seeming Good: The art & necessity of doing the least possible at work." How close am I?
They're on to motorcycles:
Demonstrators gather around a burning motorcycle during a nationwide protest demanding the government scrap a youth jobs law during a demonstration in Rennes, western France, March 28, 2006.
That's because you don't "think" French.
Those anti-democratic French! They should be kicked out of the UN! It is a totalitarian dictatorship! Business interests have taken over France! The Oppression! The Slavery! Someone help Save the French!
Demonstrators break shop's window in Rennes, western France, as part of a day of strikes and protest against the government's contested First Employment Contract (CPE).
Fox saying that the police now have permission to arrest "the troublemakers," while letting the legitimate demonstrators....ah, demonstrate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.