French job law riots spread nationwide

More than one million demonstrators poured onto France’s streets, and strikers shut down the Eiffel Tower and disrupted transport services in the largest nationwide protests so far against a new law that will make it easier to fire young people.

Police said 46 demonstrators were injured, along with five police officers, one of whom was hospitalised.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin held firm, but cracks opened in his conservative government as pressure for him to withdraw the contested measure reached unprecedented heights, with unions, students and the leftist opposition joined in solidarity, and more violence erupting on the streets of Paris.

Interior Minister and presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy, in a clear break with Villepin, suggested suspending the new type of job contract for youths to allow for negotiations. With the government in crisis, President Jacques Chirac cancelled a trip planned for later in the week to stay in Paris.

Police and organisers’ estimates for the number of marchers varied greatly, but both showed the protest movement growing in strength.

Police estimated 1.05 million people took part in more than 250 protests nationwide yesterday, including 92,000 in Paris.

The organisers’ total was closer to three million, with 700,000 at the march from the Left Bank to the heavily policed Place de Republique.

Riot officers, under orders to arrest as many troublemakers as possible, moved aggressively against youths who pelted them with stones, bottles and other projectiles.

Police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse several thousand youths who gathered after the otherwise peaceful march finished.

Police made 787 arrests around the country – 488 of them in Paris, National Police Chief Michel Gaudin told The Associated Press.

Sarkozy later invited some 200 police officers, some still wearing their protective gear, to the Interior Ministry for wine and nibbles.

“I’m proud of you,” he said. “Mission accomplished.”

Marchers ranged across age groups, from students with ”Non” painted on their faces to older union militants. Many said they wanted to defend the status quo.

“Young people are sacrificed in the name of the economy, and we are here to fight against it,” said Maxime Ourly, 18, a literature student at the Paris march.

“We don’t know what will happen in the future, and we want to control our futures.”

Students and labour unions say the contract is a first big step toward eroding France’s cherished workplace protections.

Set to take effect next month, it would let companies fire employees aged under 26 without reason in the first two years on the job.

The contract, meant to entice employers to hire less qualified youths, would supplement a six-month contract widely offered to those starting out in the job world.

Despite the huge marches, Villepin held firm.

He told parliament that he was open to talks on employment and possible changes to the contract but did not say that he would withdraw it.

“Only in action will we convince all of the French that tomorrow can be better than today,” he said, loudly heckled by opposition politicians.

Villepin says the greater flexibility will encourage companies to hire young workers, who face a 22% unemployment rate – the highest in Western Europe.

But as protests have grown, his government – and chances of running for the presidency next year – have appeared increasingly fragile.

Sarkozy, the interior minister also gunning to be the conservative camp’s presidential candidate, told a meeting of lawmakers from the governing UMP party that the contract should not go into force to allow for talks to resolve the crisis, his aides said.

Villepin’s sputtering effort at reform underscores the dilemma facing many countries in Europe that have expensive job protections and social safety nets under threat by competition from fast-rising Asian economies with cheaper, less protected workers.