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--- Begin Message ---
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,,1738533,00.html

Riot police seal off Paris streets as protests escalate

· Rampaging youths set fire to cars and shops
· Unions agree to meet PM but refuse to call off strike
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Friday March 24, 2006


Guardian
Cars were torched and shops burnt in central Paris last night after the seventh 
big 
protest in eight days against the government's controversial employment law 
ended in 
clashes between hooded youths and riot police.

The youths, some of whom had come in from the suburbs, grouped on the pavements 
on 
the Esplanade des Invalides, one of Paris's main boulevards, and armed 
themselves 
with baseball bats, wooden sticks and metal bars.

As students and sixth formers moved towards the city centre chanting protests 
against the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, and the interior minister, 
Nicolas Sarkozy, the armed youths began to snake up the side of the crowd. 
Covering 
their faces with tracksuit hoods and scarves, they moved fast in groups of 20 
to 30. 
Several car windows had been smashed and a bus shelter destroyed.

Two hours later, when the protesters reached Les Invalides, 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 
alight 
and five cars were upturned and torched as riot police began pushing the 
protesters 
back.

Mr de Villepin is now embattled on all fronts over his controversial "first 
employment contract", known as the CPE. Mr Sarkozy has distanced himself this 
week, 
suggesting there should be a six-month trial period for the law, which would 
make it 
easier for employers to sack workers under 26. The government says such 
flexibility 
will encourage companies to hire young people and slash unemployment. The daily 
Le 
Parisien yesterday quoted an unnamed political source close to the president, 
Jacques Chirac, saying that if the controversy did not subside Mr de Villepin 
could 
be sacked.

Trade unions yesterday agreed they would meet Mr de Villepin for talks but it 
was 
unlikely they would call off a strike planned for next Tuesday. With transport 
and 
air workers already pledging support, the strike was being dubbed Black Tuesday 
by 
one French paper.

As the protests continued, pavements were littered with glass, parked cars had 
had 
all their windows put out, and benches had been ripped up to throw at police. 
One 
tourist took mobile phone photos, saying it was a portrait of modern France.

A university student who had been at the protest and watched the violence erupt 
said: "It was both students and young people. But the police have arrested a 
hell of 
a lot of people who had nothing to do with it. They are fascists."

A town planning student, Viviane Macé, said: "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 CPE 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." 
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
- - - - - -
Fields are spoiled by weeds; people, by delusion. So what's 
given to those free of delusion bears great fruit.  Fields are spoiled 
by weeds; people by longing.  So what's given to those free of longing
bears great fruit.  Dhammapada, 24
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.Section 107, this material 
is provided for those who have expressed a desire in receiving 
the information for research or educational purposes.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Alamaine; Grand  Forks, North Dakota. US of A


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