Riot police have stormed the Sorbonne University in Paris, forcing out students who have been occupying the building since Wednesday in protest against government labour laws.
About 80 riot police rushed to the building early this morning to remove at least 50 students who barricaded themselves inside a classroom.
Police pushed through and the students moved to an inner courtyard under the dome of the university. Under the threat of continued police aggression and mass arrests they choose to leave with three arrests.
The sit-in at the university took place as part of growing national protests against a youth employment plan that will make it easier for firms to fire workers aged younger than 26.
The government hopes the flexibility will encourage employers to hire young people, safe in the knowledge that they will be able to get rid of them if necessary. It mean that younger workers get less job security than older colleagues and undermine France's generous employment protections.
"It's about our future, and we are determined not to give up," said Elisa Penisson, a 21-year-old undergraduate at the Sorbonne.
A university administrator, Nicolas Boudot, said the protesters wanted to turn the university into "a battlefield", not only against the jobs measure "but also against all of the social problems" that France is facing.
This mornings police action was apparently the result of demands from the rector of the Paris Academy. On Friday, the cops had fire chemical weapons into the building claiming that they were coming under attack from students throwing books from windows.
In Tours, 200km southwest of Paris, several hundred students moved onto tracks at the railway station, stopping trains for three hours on Friday, the SNCF rail operator said. Students picketed entrances at several of the country's more than 80 universities. The main students' union said 45 colleges were affected, though Education Minister Gilles de Robien dismissed those figures as "lies."
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy decided to return early from an all expenses visit to the French West Indies because of the demonstrations.
Police pushed through and the students moved to an inner courtyard under the dome of the university. Under the threat of continued police aggression and mass arrests they choose to leave with three arrests.
The sit-in at the university took place as part of growing national protests against a youth employment plan that will make it easier for firms to fire workers aged younger than 26.
The government hopes the flexibility will encourage employers to hire young people, safe in the knowledge that they will be able to get rid of them if necessary. It mean that younger workers get less job security than older colleagues and undermine France's generous employment protections.
"It's about our future, and we are determined not to give up," said Elisa Penisson, a 21-year-old undergraduate at the Sorbonne.
A university administrator, Nicolas Boudot, said the protesters wanted to turn the university into "a battlefield", not only against the jobs measure "but also against all of the social problems" that France is facing.
This mornings police action was apparently the result of demands from the rector of the Paris Academy. On Friday, the cops had fire chemical weapons into the building claiming that they were coming under attack from students throwing books from windows.
In Tours, 200km southwest of Paris, several hundred students moved onto tracks at the railway station, stopping trains for three hours on Friday, the SNCF rail operator said. Students picketed entrances at several of the country's more than 80 universities. The main students' union said 45 colleges were affected, though Education Minister Gilles de Robien dismissed those figures as "lies."
Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy decided to return early from an all expenses visit to the French West Indies because of the demonstrations.
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Rioting students?
11.03.2006 23:49
PARIS, March 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Police and rioting student clashed Saturday at Paris's famous Sorbonne university, leaving 11 officers injured, police said.
Another 20 police officers were injured in scuffles and clasheson Friday with the angry students protesting against the controversial youth job plan that was passed definitely by the French parliament on Thursday.
One student and a photographer were also injured in the violence at the campus.
Anti-riot police used teargas and batons to evacuate some 400 students during their operation that began early morning and lasted only 10 minutes.
Dozens of students made barricades and hurled anything at hand at the helmeted officers. Twenty-five people were arrested in the process.
Education Minister Gilles de Robien told France Info radio on Saturday that the police action was a "good thing" and the students had got what they deserved for the damage they caused to the university during their three-day protest.
"It's a good thing that the Sorbonne has been evacuated. In a democracy one can vote, if necessary one can demonstrate calmly, but not riot," he said. Enditem
contradiction
allies in destruction
12.03.2006 02:37
sarkozy & thatcher - one of a kind
steve munro