DE VILLEPIN
PARIS (Reuters):
THE FRENCH Government looked set yesterday to resist demands, backed by hundreds of thousands of protesters in marches across the country, to withdraw a law that cuts job security for young workers.
Trade union and student leaders gave Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin a 48-hour ultimatum to scrap the First Job Contract or face more unrest like Saturday's mass protests, including a possible general strike.
The turnout at marches nation-wide was 1.5 million with up to 400,000 of them in Paris, organisers said. Police said 500,000 people marched and 167 were arrested in Paris after rioting that followed the march. Some 17 protesters and seven members of the security forces were injured.
The day after the protests broken glass littered some streets in eastern Paris, along with the hulks of three burned-out cars. In Paris' Latin Quarter, there was smashed glass and graffiti after a late-night clash near the prestigious Sorbonne university.
But there was no hint of a government climbdown and Villepin looked set to stand firm, believing the law could significantly reduce unemploy-ment, the top social issue, before presidential elections in 2007.
