Paris Job Law Rally Turns Violent

French Young people fearing that they may actually have to work for a living have continued their rioting . The unrest instigated by labor unions and fueled by the Prime Minister Villepin's inability the get President Jacques Chirac to grow enough backbone to not abandon him. What cars escaped the looting and burning last year are now targets of indignant anxiety over having to prove one's value to an employer.

Rampaging French youths set fire to cars and looted shops in Paris on Thursday, marring protests against a youth jobs law that Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, in a conciliatory move, agreed to discuss with unions.

Aides said Villepin would meet senior trade union officials on Friday to try to defuse a crisis that has triggered a national strike threat and drawn hundreds of thousands of protesters on to French streets.

In Paris, riot police fired tear gas in clashes with youths, dubbed "casseurs" by the French, in the Invalides areas near the Foreign Ministry, Reuters witnesses said.

Youths threw stones at police and set fire to the door of an apartment building in running battles at the end of a largely peaceful rally by thousands of students and workers against the CPE First Job Contract.

"This time, there are lots of young criminals on the march who are there to steal and smash. This discredits the movement," said Charlie Herblin, a 22-year-old worker on the march

It truly is unfortunate when people can't march to protest the weakening of the socialist nanny state without a bunch of radicals showing up and causing trouble. But things are looking up. Now that Chirac has left his prime Minister out to dry there are already offers to cut the proposed changes, mainly to cut the probationary period from two years to one and the employer must give reason for dismissal. Still this may be too onerous a requirement for young people expecting to ensconce themselves in a work situation right away and begin the cruse to retirement without fear of dismissal. Only one problem. Unless France becomes more dynamic economically there will be no retirement. France is working toward becoming more like an economic backwater of the old Soviet Bloc than a Western developed nation. If such a small step as this can cause such angist more stringent measures are unthinkable.

Factory City links with Unrest in French Youth
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