Posted on 05/09/2007 4:21:27 PM PDT by Cincinna
PARIS (Reuters) - French police arrested more than 100 demonstrators and hundreds of students went on strike at a Paris university as left-wing protests against president-elect Nicolas Sarkozy continued for a fourth night on Wednesday.
Some 300-400 demonstrators gathered on the Boulevard St Michel in the Latin Quarter of Paris, ostensibly to protest against a march by far-right supporters.
Shouting slogans like "Sarko fascist! The people will have your hide!" and "Police everywhere, justice nowhere!", the demonstrators were cornered by hundreds of police close to the nearby Luxembourg Gardens.
A police officer at the scene said 118 arrests had been made by 9.30 p.m. (1930 GMT).
The protests follow three nights of violent confrontations between police and young rioters in Paris and other cities that government politicians blame on inflammatory statements from left-wing politicians during the election campaign.
Although limited so far, the protests have awakened memories of the violent protests against a proposed youth jobs contract that shook France last year, especially around the Latin Quarter where police sealed off roads late on Wednesday.
Rioters in several French cities have already been sentenced for violent acts in clashes this week.
In a separate demonstration, hundreds of students at a Paris university staged a strike to protest at Sarkozy's plans to reform France's higher education system and blocked access to an annexe of the Paris I Pantheon-Sorbonne university.
"TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE"
Conservative leader Sarkozy was elected president on Sunday, promising economic and social reforms that have alarmed many trade unionists and leftists.
"We are not calling the election itself into question," said one student, who gave his name only as William.
"We are saying: 'Careful, people, there is a program that's going to be put in place that will run right over you.'"
After a long, heated debate in which anti-Sarkozy militants clashed with other students enraged at action that could threaten their approaching examinations, scores of activists prepared to occupy a lecture theatre overnight.
The higher education minister, Francois Goulard, called on the head of the Paris I site to make sure university courses continued and to guarantee access to the annexe's buildings.
"It is totally unacceptable that an extremist minority, showing their scorn for democracy, should try to oppose the enactment of the president of the republic's program," he said.
Sarkozy has promised to make higher education reform a priority and wants to introduce a law before the end of the summer to hand universities power to hire and fire staff, set salaries and manage their assets.
He has said universities should focus more on vocational courses, be encouraged to seek outside financing and be given more scope to expel under-performing students.
(Additional reporting by Francois Murphy, Tim Hepher and Paule Bonjean)
So what doesn’t happen when students go on strike?
France has usually been governed by prostitutes.
The students stage a strike! Oh wow! I guess that means that they won’t be taking their free education for a couple of days. How the French Republic will survive this, I do not know! How can electricity still be made, food grown, airplanes landed, or trash picked up without these students in class? It is the end of society as we know it!
Sure these liberal cry babies are angry. For the first time in thier lives they will have to get off of public assistance and get a job! Ah conservatism it brings people closer together and brings out the best in people!
Royale with cheese!
anti-Sarkozy militants clashed with other students...
scores of activists prepared to occupy a lecture theatre overnight.
I think that they will "occupy a lecture theatre".
Sounds scarey!!
I bet they'll give some wild lectures tonight. Glad I'm not there.
Oh! Heavens to Murgatroid!
I don’t understand what’s so bad about shutting down the University. So? They don’t attend. So what? They are probably getting free tuition. France saves money, the professors get a rest, the kids are not interested in studying. Who gets hurt?
They know no better. There is not one European university rated in the top 100 universities worldwide. French universities are state run intellectual sh*t-houses for the educationally deficient. These jerks belong in McDonald's, supersizing les Fries, not wasting time pretending to be educable.
“Sarkozy seems to be doing a fine job so far, the leftist radicals are losing their heads, and the College Administration seems to be on board and keeping the Annexe open.
Has their been a John F. Kerry sighting at the demonstrations yet? “
LOL ...maybe Sen Kerry was there.
I hope sarkozy will karsherize the red scum !
How soon before the Stalinists here in America follow their lead?
"It is totally unacceptable that an extremist minority, showing their scorn for democracy, should try to oppose the enactment of the president of the republic's program," he said.The majority of the students missed their chance -- it would have been an ideal time to go explain things to these fascist jackasses, using bricks and baseball bats. Well, maybe not baseball bats, not sure those are widely available...
“There is not one European university rated in the top 100 universities worldwide.”
Not exactly. Here’s the 2004 Top 50, for example.
1 Harvard Univ (USA)
2 Univ Cambridge (UK)
3 Stanford Univ (USA)
4 Univ California - Berkeley (USA)
5 Massachusetts Inst Tech (USA)
6 California Inst Tech (USA)
7 Columbia Univ (USA)
8 Princeton Univ (USA)
8 Univ Chicago (USA)
10 Univ Oxford (UK)
11 Yale Univ (USA)
12 Cornell Univ (USA)
13 Univ California - San Diego (USA)
14 Univ California - Los Angeles (USA)
15 Univ Pennsylvania (USA)
16 Univ Wisconsin - Madison (USA)
17 Univ Washington - Seattle (USA)
18 Univ California - San Francisco (USA)
19 Tokyo Univ 1 (Japan)
20 Johns Hopkins Univ (USA)
21 Univ Michigan - Ann Arbor (USA)
22 Kyoto Univ 2 (Japan)
23 Imperial Coll London (UK)
24 Univ Toronto (Canada)
25 Univ Illinois - Urbana Champaign (USA)
26 Univ Coll London (UK)
27 Swiss Fed Inst Tech - Zurich (Switzerland)
28 Washington Univ - St. Louis (USA)
29 New York Univ (USA)
30 Rockefeller Univ (USA)
31 Duke Univ (USA)
32 Univ Minnesota - Twin Cities (USA)
33 Northwestern Univ (USA)
34 Univ Colorado - Boulder (USA)
35 Univ California - Santa Barbara (USA)
36 Univ British Columbia (Canada)
37 Univ Maryland - Coll Park (USA)
38 Univ Texas SW Med Center (USA)
39 Univ Texas - Austin (USA)
40 Univ Utrecht (Netherlands)
41 Vanderbilt Univ (USA)
42 Pennsylvania State Univ - Univ Park (USA)
42 Univ California - Davis (USA)
44 Univ California - Irvine (USA)
45 Univ Paris (France)
46 State Univ - New Brunswick (USA)
47 Univ Southern California (USA)
48 Karolinska Inst Stockholm (Sweden
48 Univ Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh (USA)
50 Univ Manchester (UK)
The four or five serious science or tech students that were still left and had projects to finish :(
Thats where I’m at on this as well. give the guy a chance.
That’s what using the Metric System will get you....
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