PM to meet unions after French protests turn bloody

France’s embattled prime minister faced a tough and potentially pivotal meeting today with unions demanding that he toss out a divisive new jobs law after protests turned bloody and left a Paris park littered with shattered glass and ashes.

It will be the first time Dominique de Villepin sits down with leading unions since he introduced the “first job contract” in January. The face-off over the law, which makes it easier for companies to hire – and fire – young workers, has thrown the conservative government into a crisis and fanned student blockades at dozens of universities.

Rioters mixed in with demonstrators protesting against the law turned a park in front of Napoleon’s tomb into a battlefield yesterday.

Youths with baseball bats attacked student demonstrators and others hurled chunks of concrete at riot police, who responded with baton charges and tear gas.

At least 60 protesters and police were injured, police said. One demonstrator was admitted to hospital with serious head injuries, according to the Paris hospital network. A protester injured at Saturday’s march remained in a coma.

Both the government and the unions are increasingly worried the violence could spin beyond their control, increasing pressure on both sides to seek a way out of the impasse.

“The government’s obstinacy is creating an extremely dangerous situation that is sinking into further violence and further danger,” the Socialist mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, said on Europe 1 radio today.

“The main government actors should take this seriously, beyond their political calculations.”

Unions accepted an invitation from Villepin to meet, but said they would only restate their stance and would not negotiate unless he scraps the law. Unions plan a national strike on Tuesday.

Sporadic clashes between youths and police in the last 10 days have been reminiscent of the riots that swept across impoverished French suburbs last autumn. Those riots were blamed partly on high youth unemployment – which the government says the new jobs law is aimed at reducing by giving employers more flexibility and encouraging them to hire.

The law also allows companies to fire young workers in the first two years of employment without giving a reason. Villepin has said he is ready to discuss modifying the most criticised aspects of the law.

Critics say the measure will eat into France’s hallowed job protections. The controversy over the law, which is expected to take effect next month, could take a toll on the governing conservatives, including Villepin and Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy – both top would-be contenders in presidential elections next year.

Police said 220,000 students and other youths marched nationwide in the latest protests yesterday.

Hundreds of troublemakers tore up pavements in Paris, hurling chunks of concrete and debris at riot police on the Esplanade des Invalides in front of Napoleon’s golden-domed tomb.

Others took advantage of the pandemonium to steal mobile phones or handbags from peaceful protesters. Youths with baseball bats or sticks tore through the crowd, beating several people, their faces bloody.

“They’re just standing there watching us kill each other,” said high school student Sarah Belhachumi, 18, huddling with two friends and complaining that officers didn’t immediately intervene.

National police said 420 people were arrested nationwide.