Posted on 03/23/2006 11:04:25 AM PST by blam
Paris job law rally turns violent
Paris police tried to separate peaceful protesters and rioters
Violence has erupted in Paris as thousands of French students took to the streets to protest against a controversial labour law. Dozens of youths smashed windows, looted shops, set fire to cars and hurled stones at police.
But the majority of protesters were peaceful, many of them linking arms as police tackled the violent fringe.
Union leaders have agreed to meet Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin on Friday. They want the law withdrawn.
The union leaders have refused to negotiate unless the law, introducing the First Employment Contract, is withdrawn first and will only use the meeting to press their demands. A strike is due to be held on Tuesday.
Mr de Villepin has said he will talk about amending but not scrapping the law, which is an attempt to create jobs for the young by dropping employment safeguards.
Sit-in
Protests have spread across France in recent weeks, and several of them have ended in violence.
During Thursday's protests, violence also broke out in Marseilles and in the western city of Rennes.
In central Paris, police tried to isolate the rioters from peaceful demonstrators and fired tear gas.
Many protesters sought to distance themselves from the violence.
Mr de Villepin is under pressure to negotiate over the law
"This time, there are lots of young criminals on the march who are there to steal and smash. This discredits the movement," 22-year-old worker Charlie Herblin told Reuters news agency.
In Strasbourg, in the east of the country, demonstrators held a sit-in outside the regional headquarters of the employers' federation.
Job stability fears
Correspondents say Mr de Villepin is coming under pressure from President Jacques Chirac to negotiate over the law, which could damage his own hopes of becoming president.
His government proposed the law as part of a series of measures designed to help youths in the French suburbs who took to the streets last year.
The law allows employers to end job contracts for under-26s at any time during a two-year trial period without having to offer an explanation or give prior warning.
The government says it will encourage employers to hire young people but students fear it will erode job stability in a country where more than 20% of 18 to 25-year-olds are unemployed - more than twice the national average.
Roost, chickens, roost.
Ahhhhh, the stench of socialism.
And Atlas Shrugged.
Haven't the young people in France convincend the world yet that they are great students and low risks as employees? Maybe if they riot a few more nights and destroy some more property the world will see they would make great hires. Oh,,,,,,nevermind.
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Hey! This thread isn't about Paris, it's about some Euro hell hole . . . |
Are these "youth" who "took to the streets" who I think they are? Do they really expect our memories to be that short?
Or were there other French youth rioting last summer?
Well if they keep burning all those cars they may be able to open up a new automobile plant to replace them all. They are burning their way to prosperity.
They're two different groups of young people. The first was disaffected Muslims. These are middle-class Sorbonne college students. Very different. I think they are now proving the liability they will pose as employees if they can't relatively easily be fired.
There's nothing like an entry along the lines of MARCH 2006 - Burned half of Paris to burnish up the ol' resume...
I love Paris love Paris in the spring time
I love Paris in the fall
I love Paris in the summer when it sizzles
I love Paris in the winter when it drizzles
I love Paris every moment
Every moment of the year
I love Paris, why oh why do I love Paris
Because my love is here
Why don't they just put everyone in cages over there and sell tickets? They'd have no lack of money then.
Surprisingly, no. There are certainly North Afrian "yutes" who are engaging in a little bit of the old ultra-violence here, but most of the protestors are from France's elite universities.
To understand just how screwed up the French economy is, you have to understand that graduates from their equivalent of Harvard and Yale have 20%+ unemployment at graduation.
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