France CPE Riot Watch: Students Protest CPE By Blocking Roads and Trains

A group of students invade the railway tracks as police stand by at the Gare du Nord train station, in Paris, Thursday April 6, 2006. Students and unions have been in a week-long standoff with the conservative government over the law, which will make it easier for companies to hire and fire young workers.

ASSociated Press: Students in France Block Roads, Trains

Students protesting a new labor law put more pressure on France’s embattled government Thursday by blocking roads, trains and a convoy of parts heading to the factory that builds the world’s largest airliner.

About 100 students blocked a highway used by trucks carrying Airbus A380 parts to the factory outside Toulouse, in southwest France. The pre-dawn protest was calm but prevented the delivery for about two and a half hours, police said.

Students who participated in massive nationwide street demonstrations that drew between 1 million and 3 million protesters Tuesday were using wildcat disruptions around the country Thursday as they tried to force the government to repeal a law that will make it easier to hire and fire young people.

Demonstrators burst onto tracks at two Paris train stations, and police in riot gear pushed them back. Protesters also slowed traffic around Paris’ Orly airport, forcing some harried travelers to drag their luggage on foot.

Obviously the Chiracx government cannot maintain civil order in France. Last Fall it was the Muslim immigrant youths who ravaged and burned automobiles.

In response, Prime Minister Villepin proposed a change in the youth employment law, the CPE First Contract. This has met with protests/demonstrations and lawlessness.

Will the Chirac government capitulate to the the students and labor unions.

You betcha……just a matter of time.

Stay tuned……

A student steps on a railway track with stickers on her shoes reading ‘withdraw CPE’ during a protest at the Gare du Nord railway station in Paris April 6, 2006. Students across the country continue to press for a withdrawal of the controversial CPE, a youth hire-and-fire law.

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France CPE Riot Watch: French Unions Set April 15 Deadline for CPE Repeal

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France CPE Riot Watch: French Police Subdue Riots