Post by kelly on Mar 19, 2006 23:16:50 GMT -5
paris, france anti-gov protest against labour law 03/11/2006
a “black Saturday” for dominique de villepin, the beleaguered centre-right prime minister, whose difficulty in winning support for his employment law has worked against his dream of succeeding president jacques chirac after the election in may next year.
violence flared at the end of a giant anti-government protest in france yesterday as youths fought running battles with riot police in paris after burning a car and smashing several shop windows.
four officers and 12 demonstrators were injured in the clashes in the capital, and police made 59 arrests.
half a million people participated in largely peaceful protests in several french cities. but as darkness fell on the place de la nation, the finishing point for the demonstration in eastern paris, rioters stormed a mcdonald’s restaurant, smashed telephone booths and threw projectiles at police.
some demonstrators said the rioting youths had appeared only at the end of the protest, which had been staged against a new employment law making it easier for employers to sack young workers.
sébastien lasau, 26, a railway worker, confirmed that many of the rioters were students. “they are daddy’s boys from the chic arrondissements. they came equipped with scarves and lemons to counter the effects of the tear gas, and many of them have ski goggles as well.
earlier, the demonstrators in paris had marched under a clear, blue sky, chanting “no to the Kleenex contract”, arguing that the employment law, known as the first job contract, would allow employers to discard workers like used tissue paper.
we will not be the bosses’ fodder, said vincent martin,
a 25-year-old student from the sorbonne.
we will continue to protest until the government withdraws this unjust employment law.
students have closed 16 universities and disrupted classes at 35 others in protest at the employment law, which is intended to encourage hiring in companies wary of taking on new staff. chirac called for negotiations on the law but stood by it, calling it “an important element in the policy of fighting unemployment”.
the government had been extremely nervous about the prospect of a repeat of the disorder that set paris and several other big cities ablaze late last year when thousands of cars and hundreds of buildings were burnt by youths from immigrant suburbs.
03/11/2006
echoes of 1968 - french riot police fired tear gas at projectile-throwing student activists outside paris's famous sorbonne university over the french government's new labour law.
the clashes occurred when protests over a new labour law making it easier to sack young workers turned violent.
police officers said they were forced to take defensive action after coming under attack from students who pelted them with oil cans, fire extinguishers, stepladders, chairs and books from upper-storey windows of the university.
Police fire tear gas in Sorbonne jobs law riot
www.smh.com.au/news/world/police-fire-tear-gas-in-sorbonne-jobs-law-riot/2006/03/11/1141701735869.html
a “black Saturday” for dominique de villepin, the beleaguered centre-right prime minister, whose difficulty in winning support for his employment law has worked against his dream of succeeding president jacques chirac after the election in may next year.
violence flared at the end of a giant anti-government protest in france yesterday as youths fought running battles with riot police in paris after burning a car and smashing several shop windows.
four officers and 12 demonstrators were injured in the clashes in the capital, and police made 59 arrests.
half a million people participated in largely peaceful protests in several french cities. but as darkness fell on the place de la nation, the finishing point for the demonstration in eastern paris, rioters stormed a mcdonald’s restaurant, smashed telephone booths and threw projectiles at police.
some demonstrators said the rioting youths had appeared only at the end of the protest, which had been staged against a new employment law making it easier for employers to sack young workers.
sébastien lasau, 26, a railway worker, confirmed that many of the rioters were students. “they are daddy’s boys from the chic arrondissements. they came equipped with scarves and lemons to counter the effects of the tear gas, and many of them have ski goggles as well.
earlier, the demonstrators in paris had marched under a clear, blue sky, chanting “no to the Kleenex contract”, arguing that the employment law, known as the first job contract, would allow employers to discard workers like used tissue paper.
we will not be the bosses’ fodder, said vincent martin,
a 25-year-old student from the sorbonne.
we will continue to protest until the government withdraws this unjust employment law.
students have closed 16 universities and disrupted classes at 35 others in protest at the employment law, which is intended to encourage hiring in companies wary of taking on new staff. chirac called for negotiations on the law but stood by it, calling it “an important element in the policy of fighting unemployment”.
the government had been extremely nervous about the prospect of a repeat of the disorder that set paris and several other big cities ablaze late last year when thousands of cars and hundreds of buildings were burnt by youths from immigrant suburbs.
03/11/2006
echoes of 1968 - french riot police fired tear gas at projectile-throwing student activists outside paris's famous sorbonne university over the french government's new labour law.
the clashes occurred when protests over a new labour law making it easier to sack young workers turned violent.
police officers said they were forced to take defensive action after coming under attack from students who pelted them with oil cans, fire extinguishers, stepladders, chairs and books from upper-storey windows of the university.
Police fire tear gas in Sorbonne jobs law riot
www.smh.com.au/news/world/police-fire-tear-gas-in-sorbonne-jobs-law-riot/2006/03/11/1141701735869.html
