Chirac Calls for Dialogue Amid Labor Protests

Posted 15 March 2006 @ 01:28 pm EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

PARIS (AP) - President Jacques Chirac on Wednesday sought to calm violent student protests over the government's youth jobs plan, urging new dialogue between ministers and labor leaders.

Click to Enlarge A protestor, foreground, throws a metal fence at riot policemen during clashes ...

Embattled Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin was convening an urgent meeting of ministers later on Wednesday in hopes of easing the unrest.

"Questions and fears are being expressed. The government is particularly attentive to that," Chirac said at a weekly Cabinet meeting, according to government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope.

In a third day of clashes between students and police in Paris since Saturday, youths hurled stones, bottles and metal barricades and officers responded with tear gas near Paris' famed Sorbonne University on Tuesday.

At least five officers were injured and seven people arrested following the hourslong skirmish, which came at the end of a march by about 4,000 students and other demonstrators, officials said.

Chirac urged dialogue, saying, "I trust labor partners to participate in a constructive mindset of responsibility, dialogue and respect," according to Cope.

Many of France's 84 universities are on strike to protest the jobs plan, which passed parliament last week and will make it easier for companies to hire and fire young workers during the first two years of employment. The law is to take effect next month.

Students were planning new marches on Thursday, and labor unions were expecting to take part in yet another on Saturday.