PARIS: French public transport workers and teachers staged a one-day national strike and tens of thousands took to the streets yesterday to try to force Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to abandon a new youth job law.

The Eiffel Tower was closed to visitors until the evening, commuters faced delays on trains and Paris underground rail services and airports were hit by stoppages in protest against the CPE First Job Contract.

In the southern city of Marseille, some 250,000 people took to the streets, according to organizers, waving banners reading "We will not give up." In Grenoble, in the east, 60,000 rallied, and 40,000 protested in Pau in the southwest, unions said.

"The government will not shut us up," said protester Florent in Marseille, where youths had "Anti-CPE" dabbed on their faces.

The standoff over the CPE is a major challenge for Villepin, a potential candidate in next year's presidential election. He hopes the measure will reduce youth unemployment from the current 22.8 per cent, but union and student leaders say it will create a generation of "throwaway workers" because it makes it easier to dismiss young employees in a trial two-year period.

Pressure on Villepin over the CPE has also grown within the ruling Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), which is headed by Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, a likely rival for the 2007 presidential race.

The UMP parliamentary group yesterday backed Sarkozy's proposal that the government not rush to enforce the law and so leave the door open for further negotiations.

Opinion polls show almost two-thirds of French people oppose the CPE. Unions said 135 rallies were planned across France, with a large rally expected in Paris in the afternoon.

Many trains were still running, including the Eurostar link to Brussels and London, but some commuters were frustrated.

"Why do you have to make all French suffer," French traveller Patricia said at Charles de Gaulle airport, where several flights were cancelled. "Fine that you're against the CPE. But why block the whole country, rather than talk?"

Mass street demonstrations are closely watched in France after protests over pensions reforms in 1995 which were widely credited with losing the conservatives the snap election called two years later in part on Villepin's advice.

Fears of a broader revolt have been fuelled by incidents in Paris last week including looting, clashes with riot police and the mugging of student demonstrators by hardcore elements.

Laurence Parisot, head of business group Medef, said the crisis was "dangerous for our economy."

Tourism Minister Leon Bertrand said the rallies could hurt the image of France abroad.

Villepin has invited unions and students to meet him for talks today but it is not clear whether they will attend.

Source: China Daily