French students vow to step up jobs protests

PARIS - French students mobilising ahead of a national strike have vowed to hold a series of protests in the weeks ahead until the government withdraws a law making it easier to hire and fire young people.

"Without a withdrawal of the law, there can be no question of possible negotiations," said Xavier Pascal, a student leader among hundreds of delegates who met in Aix-en-Provence in south-eastern France to co-ordinate their actions.

France faces chaos on Tuesday as students, school children and their parents march in many cities, while unions have called for a one-day strike which is expected to disrupt public transport with many trains and flights cancelled.

In a joint statement, the students said they also planned to block train stations and main roads on Thursday, called on the government to resign and for a new strike on April 4.

"The government's deafness does not weaken our determination," they said after two months of protests which have led to sporadic riots, and fuelled rising fears the demonstrations could be hijacked by hooligans.

"I am worried about the security of the youngsters when I see that hooligans are mixing up with the protesters," Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told Europe 1 radio. She ruled out a withdrawal of the law but called for further dialogue.

Several universities and hundreds of secondary schools are occupied by students while riot police have sealed off the Sorbonne and Academie de France buildings in central Paris after evicting students with tear gas two weeks ago. Steel barricades are still blocking the road between the two institutions.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin met moderate student leaders on Saturday but his invitation to talks was snubbed by the main student groups behind the protests. After the meeting, Villepin said he wanted to find a solution.

The constitutional court still needs to approve the law.

The row over the CPE (First Job Contract), which allows employers to fire people under 26 without giving a reason during a two-year trial period, is one of the biggest crises in Villepin's 10-month administration.

The government wants to make France's labour laws more flexible to cut unemployment in a country with a jobless rate of 9.6 per cent, rising to 23 per cent among the young.

But many French people reject any erosion of their social rights and are willing to defend them in street protests that are part of the country's tradition going back to the French Revolution of 1789 that created the first republic.

"Of course, on Tuesday we will be mobilised to continue this formidable social revolt against the CPE and bring alternative proposals," Communist leader Marie-George Buffet told her party at Le Bourget, near Paris.

The unrest has also intensified a long-running power struggle over who will represent the right in a presidential election due in 2007.

Villepin, a career diplomat who never fought an election, is seen as wanting to succeed Jacques Chirac, whom he has served as a top aide for many years.

But Nicolas Sarkozy, his interior minister and leader of the UMP government party, is also eyeing the presidency. Sarkozy started to distance himself from Villepin over the CPE this week and on Saturday called on him to reach a compromise.

- REUTERS