Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

Update : French Uprising, General Strike, Protester in Coma

no channel hopping | 20.03.2006 22:14 | Social Struggles | Workers' Movements | World

French unions and student bodies have today official called for a general strike and massive protests throughout France on 28th March 28 to pressure the government to withdraw the new CPE law that removes existing rights from young workers.

Despite huge nationwide protest marches over the weekend that mobilised over 1.5 million pepole, the Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has so far refused to back down but is clearly weekening.
He held meetings with students representatives and business leaders on Monday to 'discuss their concerns' and seek compromise.

French President Jacques Chirac has been backing the prime minister over CPE, which allows employers to fire people under 26 for any reason during a two-year 'trial' period. Chirac claims that the law shows the government's willingness to fight youth unemployment but young people and the unions see things differently.

Student groups and union leaders say the CPE would create a generation of disposable workers without job security.

"All the unions are calling to make March 28 a day of demonstrations, strikes and work stoppages," said Rene Valadon, confederal secretary of the Force Ouvriere union after a meeting of France's main unions, student and high school groups.

Villepin claims the ruling party is solidly behind the new law but elements of the party have already dubbed the CPE "Comment Perdre une Election" which translates as "How to Lose an Election".

Opposition to the law is wreaking Villepin's chances of running for president in 2007 and is damaging the ruling UMP party. Opinion polls show popularity has slumped in recent weeks and a poll for the BVA organisation today showed that 60 percent of French voters want the law withdrawn.

"The government must have the wisdom to get out of this impasse which it has imposed on itself. It must withdraw the CPE," said a statement by unions after Monday's decision, adding that only its withdrawal would open the way to negotiations.

The resolve of the protesters is likely to grow even stronger on news that the police are responsible for hospitalising a member of the Sud-PTT union who is now critically ill and comatos. The postal worker was apparently trampled by CRS riot police following Saturday's march through Paris.

His condition is considered to be very serious and he is currently in intensive care. Throughout this affair, the attitude of the police has been scandalous. Not only with their violent behaviour at the time of the demonstration, but with their refusal to call for medical help, as Cyrile lay on the ground, obviously seriously injured.

It was the demonstrators who had to seek medical help for Cyrile. Sud-PTT demand that the attitude of the police must be brought to the attention of the public, as must the complicit behaviour of the government. Sud-PTT denounce in the strongest terms the police violence which has occurred once again at this immense demonstration against the CPE.

On Sunday morning, the police announced the usual hyped up claims of 34 police officers injured. They said that 18 demonstrators had been injured but none seriously. After initial denials and avoidance, the police admit that the 39-year-old man was hospitalised with a head injury in an incident involving police near the Place de la Nation in eastern Paris. A police statement said that the Paris prosecutor's office has opened a preliminary enquiry.

no channel hopping

Additions

Video

21.03.2006 03:11

A trade unionist of the South-Postal and Telecommunications Authorities trade union (Sud-PTT), a 39 year old, wounded at the time of the clashes which occurred with the police force on Saturday at the end of the anti-CPE demonstration at the Places de la Nation in Paris, is in a coma.

More at  http://www.libcom.org/blog/

Video:  http://video.indymedia.org/en/2006/03/291.shtml (sorry, wmv-format)

me


Riot in banlieue as hundreds of high school students protest against CPE

21.03.2006 03:23

Hundreds of youths clashed with riot police on Monday afternoon in the Parisian banlieue (suburb) of Drancy. Between 300 - 500 pupils of the Eugene Delacroix High School had gathered for an anti-CPE demonstration. Three vehicles were set fire to and a bus shelter was damaged in the clashes. There was one arrest. According to the police force, the incidents lasted 3 hours.

Drancy is located in Seine-Saint-Denis, a department in the north-western periphery of Paris where the wave of urban violence which struck the French suburbs, last November started.

libcom


Comments

Display the following comment

  1. A day of action is not a general strike....unfortunately — Yves Coleman

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech