Massive protests continue against French labor law

In the biggest anti-government protests for at least a decade, more than 200,000 people marched through the streets of Paris on Mar. 28 to protest a controversial new youth employment law. A 36 hour strike, which began on the night of Mar. 27, set the stage for demonstrations in more than 250 towns and cities across the country that brought more than a million people into the streets, according to police. Some of the labor unions put the figure much higher–at close to three million. A nationwide day of strike action called by the five main trade union federations to protest against the "first job contract" was less successful. On the Paris subway, two in three trains ran normally. High-speed and international trains were hardly affected. Private industry was barely disrupted. Many of the country's schools, post offices, banks, government offices, shops and unemployment bureaus were closed or at least worked more slowly than usual. Fifty-six of France's 84 universities were closed. French newspapers were printed but not distributed and mail was not delivered. The state-run, all-news radio station, France Info, broadcast only music. The protest march in Paris was largely peaceful until it reached the Place de la République, where violence began with brawls between rival groups of young French-Africans, many of them from the troubled suburbs. The violence quickly shifted to skirmishes between police officers and bands of young casseurs, or smashers, in French. One police officer was reported seriously injured when a large firecracker thrown by protesters exploded in his face. Police deployed 4,000 officers throughout the city, who eventually turned to tear gas and water cannons to clear the protesters away. The police also fired paint balls to identify people for possible arrest later on. Youths harassed the police by throwing sticks, rocks and bottles, while the police periodically charged the most violent groups to snatch one or two people for arrest. One shop window was broken along the broad square and the police quickly converged to protect the store from looting. A number of young people did suffer blows, both by the police and by other young people. One young woman was knocked down and kicked severely by a small group of young men. There were reports of violence in a number of other cities, including Rennes, Nantes, La Rochelle, Grenoble and Bordeaux. By early evening, more than 380 people had been arrested throughout the country. Judging by the huge and high-spirited turn-out for the march throughout the country, the month-old dispute over the youth employment law has now mobilized the young and the many and varied groups of the French left. However, the relatively poor turn-out for the strikes suggests that the battle has yet to interest the great majority of the French working and salaried classes. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin's "first jobs contract" is meant to reduce the 23 percent youth unemployment in France. Under the new law, companies can hire people under the age of 26 for a two-year trial period. During that time, they can be fired without explanation. Student unions say that the law treats the young as a "disposable" commodity. Unions complain that it drives a wedge into decades of accumulated legal protections of employment. The law has also become a symbol of what many on the French left see as anti-social, "ultra-capitalist" influences from the US and Britain. The Mar. 28 protests followed a large demonstration on Mar. 23, mostly centered around Paris. Intense violence flared between protesters and riot police as youth gangs, some of whom had come in from the suburbs, joined the march, and armed themselves with baseball bats, wooden sticks and metal bars. As students and workers moved towards the city center chanting protests against the prime minister, the armed youths began to snake up the side of the crowd. Covering their faces with hoods and scarves, they moved fast in groups of 20 to 30. Several car windows were smashed and a bus shelter destroyed. After hundreds of riot police had sealed off the entrances to streets leading to government ministries, several groups of teenagers began smashing cars and shop windows. One shop was set on fire and five cars were upturned and torched as riot police began pushing the protesters back. One student from a university in Paris said of the Mar. 23 protests: "Bands of young guys have been running past the protesters with baseball bats all afternoon. It is a small minority of people but I can totally understand what is going through their minds. They feel as desperate as we do and they have got no other way to express themselves. They feel violence is the only action to take. I think some people might not even know what the [labor law] is. It says a lot about our society that people feel the need to express themselves with bats and metal bars." One woman who had come to protest from the Seine-Saint-Denis region, which experienced the worst of last autumn's youth riots, said: "There are now kids in the worst areas of the suburbs who are being born into families where the parents have never worked. It is desperate."