=================================== -------JACOB'S WHEEL PROFILE------=================================== NAME: France BIRTH: Friday * 21 September 1792 * 3:30:00 PM TODAY'S DATE: 6/11/2005 12:29:07

PM =================================== PROFILE NOTES: "By 2 September 1792 the Austrians had captured the fortress at Verdun and the r oad to Paris was open to them. However, on 10 August the Paris mob had stormed the Tuileries Palace, where Loui s XVI had been living, and had imprisoned the king and his family. The constitut ional monarchy established by the 1791 constitution was brought to an end. On 20 September 1792 the French won a crucial victory at the Battle of Valmy and effe ctively saved the revolution. A National Convention had been formed by election and, on 21 September, the Convention abolished the monarchy and declared France a republic. Louis XVI was put on trial, found guilty of treason, and executed at the guillotine on 21 January 1793." From: http://www.tiscali.co.uk/reference/encyclopaedia/hutchinson/m0003820.html =================================== 7-YEAR CYCLE : Neptune 21 September 2002 -to- 21 September 2009 FOUR-MONTH PHASE LIST: 4-month phase : Neptune-Mars [2/2] Start : 21 May 2005 4-month phase : Neptune-Aries [2/3] Start : 21 September 2005 4-month phase : Neptune-Pluto [2/4] Start : 21 January 2006 =================================== A country in flames French cities teeter on the edge of anarchy By Kim Willsher in Clichy-sous-Bois, Paris (Filed: 06/Nov/2005) http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/11/06/wfran06.xml&sShe et=/news/2005/11/06/ixnewstop.html Gangs of youths were once again on the rampage across France last night as the g uerilla warfare, which has engulfed a string of Paris suburbs for more than a we ek, took hold in cities throughout the country. ...

The first violence was triggered after a routine police patrol in the district o f Chne-Pointu in Clichy-sous-Bois, north-east Paris. The districts of Clichy are typical of the outer-Paris sink estates, which are home to many second and third generation immigrant families. The French Fifth Republic expects them to bury t heir own customs in the name of integration and consequently they have discovere d there is more libert, egalit and fraternit for some than others. Across France some 751 neighbourhoods, housing around five million people, are c lassified as severely disadvantaged. In Clichy, less than 10 miles from the chic Champs Elyses, half the 28,000 population is under 25 and unemployment is more t han double the national average of 10 per cent. The incident which triggered France's most violent convulsion for almost 40 year s began on the evening of October 27, as police officers approached a group of y ouths, most of North African descent, returning from a football match. Some of t hem panicked and ran. "We all do it. You don't hang around and wait to be pushed around or arrested fo r nothing," said one Clichy teenager. Terrified that the police were chasing them, which the officers have denied, thr ee fled towards an electricity sub-station. Ignoring the danger signs, they scra mbled over 10ft walls topped with three rows of barbed wire. Minutes later two o f them, aged 15 and 17, were electrocuted and died. Miraculously the third survi ved, but was seriously burnt. As word of the tragedy spread, the anger and frust ration never far below the surface of the banlieues erupted. Angry youngsters ha ve pledged to keep fighting so their friends did not "die for nothing". Many of them also blame the tough-talking interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, fo r making matters worse. He has described the rioters as "scum" and threatened to "hose down" the estates to get rid of them. "He's disrespected us, which is a declaration of war," one young man told the Su nday Telegraph as he surveyed one of Clichy's housing estates that was dotted wi th piles of ash and broken glass. "Those guys, our friends, died for nothing and we're being dissed. Someone has to say sorry." Since then politicians, social commentators and journalists have been picking ov er France's failure to integrate its burgeoning immigrant population. "The Republic is not keeping its promise of liberty, equality and fraternity," t hundered the respected sociologist, Michel Wieviorka, in the Libration newspaper. "Cultural identities are not sufficiently recognised and there is no longer any mediation between the inhabitants of these areas and the politicians. It's a to tal crisis." Yet while the violence has dominated French media all week, most citizens are ot herwise unaffected by the tumult - an indication of just how detached from mains tream French life those living on the troubled housing estates have become. This weekend, even residents sympathetic to the rioters called for a halt to vio lence. One 30-year-old Moroccan, whose car had been torched by local youths, sai d: "Obviously I'm angry with the youths who are burning the cars of people livin g in their own area." Yet many agree that Mr Sarkozy is partly to blame. The interior minister epentant, however. "This minority of hooligans and assassins must not be d with the immense majority of youngsters in the banlieues," he said. "I to let these organised gangs make the law. The Republican state will not ." was unr confuse refuse give in

============================= Founding principle called into question http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1636671,00.html Jon Henley in Paris Tuesday November 8, 2005 The Guardian The government cannot admit it, but more and more voices in France are being rai sed to say that the country's worst urban unrest since the student uprising of 1 968 reflects the failure of a whole model. "The crisis is total," one leading sociologist, Michel Wievorka, said yesterday. "This is a structural problem that neither the right nor the left have dealt wi th for 25 years. France cannot cope with the shortcomings of its republican mode l. The whole system needs to be rethought." Article continues The modle rpublicain d'intgration is based on perhaps the most sacred article of al l France's grand republican creed: that everyone is equal and indistinguishable in the eyes of the state. No matter where they come from, all French citizens ar e identical in their Frenchness. It is a fine principle born of the ideals of the 1789 revolution. But it has pra ctical drawbacks. For example, statistics based on ethnicity or religion are ill egal in France; no one knows how many residents are of Arab or African origin, h ow they perform at school compared with white pupils, or what percentage are job less or in prison. If analysing a problem is halfway to solving it, it is not a good start. Under the model of integration, the idea that ethnic, linguistic and religious g roups might enjoy rights and recognition due to their particular minority status is unthinkable. The model is defended on both political wings. When the interio r minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, suggested last year that affirmative action was nee ded in education and jobs, he was slapped down by both President Jacques Chirac and leftwing leaders for propagating "anti-republican" and "un-French" ideas. Yet experts and youth workers recognise the failings. "Our approach to integrati on, based on the concept that everyone is equal, is part of the problem," said o ne analyst, Christophe Bertossian. "The idea that we are equal is fiction. Ethni c minorities are being told they do not exist." The integrationist approach worked for earlier waves of European immigrants from Poland, Spain, Italy and Portugal. But they were white and Catholic, and arrive d when France needed labour. It has not worked for postwar immigrants from north and black Africa; some 7 million (an unofficial estimate) now live in France, m any on the kind of rundown estates that are going up in flames. Some 750 estates are classified as "difficult". They are where the model has broken down, where the French republic, to most intents and purposes, ceases to exist. "The people who live there live next door to France," said student Yasser Amri, a third-generation immigrant and one of the very few to have escaped his estate, west of Paris. "The republic deals with citizens, not with individuals. But we' re not citizens. We don't know what we are. Not Arab or west African, but not Fr ench either. We're unrecognised and unremembered. No wonder people rebel." =====================

Chirac admits riots had 'exposed inequality' http://www.guardian.co.uk/france/story/0,11882,1640101,00.html Jon Henley in Paris Friday November 11, 2005 The Guardian Jacques Chirac yesterday acknowledged that the urban violence in France had expo sed the "undeniable problems" faced by many inhabitants of immigrant communities , and said that they had to be responded to quickly. The French president said discrimination and inequality were feeding the rebelli on of young people in deprived suburbs. "Whatever our origins, we are all the ch ildren of the republic, and we can all expect the same rights," he said. =================================== TODAY'S DATE: 4/01/2006 7:46:00 AM France Lifts Two-Month State of Emergency By Lisa Bryant Paris 03 January 2006 Bryant report - Download 243k audio clip Listen to Bryant report audio clip The French government has decided to lift a state of emergency imposed two month s ago, when riots and arson attacks swept across France. The situation has calme d, but critics warn the unrest may return. The government instituted the state of emergency in November, during the worst s ocial unrest to hit France in nearly 40 years. The trouble began in Paris-area s uburbs in late October, after two youths of African origin were accidentally ele ctrocuted while hiding from the police, and the violence spread across the natio n. Nearly 9,000 vehicles were burned and 3,000 people arrested during three week s of turmoil. French President Jacques Chirac has called for the state of emergency to be lift ed as of Wednesday. The decree allows local officials to impose curfews, conduct house-to-house searches, and ban public gatherings. And while many towns decide d not to impose such measures, the violence abated rapidly. But the state of emergency was controversial from the beginning, and critics lik e Dominique Sopo, the head of the anti-discrimination group SOS Racism, say it s hould never have been imposed. Mr. Sopo denounced the state of emergency as simply a political gesture that off ers only a law-and-order response to the problem at hand. He said Mr. Chirac's c enter-right government has failed to address discrimination facing ethnic-immigr ants, which has stoked anger and ultimately unleashed the wave of violence. French officials have unveiled a raft of plans to address the problems of youths and others living in France's gritty suburban ghettos. Many are second-and thir d-generation ethnic immigrants and French citizens - yet are not integrated into French society. The measures range from offering better educational opportunities and tackling j ob discrimination, to restoring funding for neighborhood services the government

cut a couple of years ago, but Mr. Sopo is among a number of critics who say th at, so far, they have not seen any results. Source: http://www.voanews.com/english/2006-01-03-voa22.cfm =================================== Anatomy of an uprising (2005) 27 October, 6.12PM Bouna Traore and Zyed Benna, aged 15 and 17, are electrocuted at an electricity plant at Clichy-sous-Bois. A third boy, Muhittin Altun, 17, is taken to hospital with burn injuries. Believing the boys were chased into the electricity substat ion by the police, youths in Clichy-sous-Bois burn 23 cars and pelt police with stones and bricks. 28 October Nicolas Sarkozy claims 'the police had not been physically pursuing' the youngst ers, angering youths. On 25 October, Sarkozy had referred to youths as 'racaille s' (louts). In June 2005, he had suggested that a housing estate should be 'clea ned up with a Karcher' (a high-pressure hose). 29 October Around 400 youngsters clash for two hours with police at Clichy-sous-Bois and in neighbouring Montfermeil. Twenty-nine vehicles are burnt and a van belonging to the CRS riot police is allegedly hit by a live bullet. Later, 500 people stage a silent march through Clichy-sous-Bois in honour of Bouna and Zyed. In the even ing, 20 cars are burnt at Clichy. There are calls for Sarkozy to resign. 30 October Youths clash with police near the Bilal mosque in Clichy-sous-Bois. A CRS tear g as grenade lands on the pavement in front of the mosque. Violence spreads to oth er estates in Seine-Saint-Denis. 1 November Rivals to be the rightwing candidate in 2006's presidential elections, Prime Min ister Dominique de Villepin trumps Sarkozy by receiving the parents of Zyed and Bouna in his office. Violence spreads to three other departements adjacent to Pa ris. 2 November On the outskirts of Paris, a disabled woman narrowly survives an arson attack by youths on a bus. 3-13 November Vehicle burning reaches a nationwide overnight high of 1,480 on 6-7 November. Se veral weblogs are closed down. On 7 November, a 61-year-old man dies after a mug ging by youths in Stains, near Paris. A night-time curfew is introduced in Le Ra incy. On 9 November the government declares a state of emergency, giving prefect s curfew powers and allowing police searches without warrants. The measure is li fted on 4 January. 14-15 November

President Chirac announces plans for a 'civilian service' for 50,000 young men a nd women each year. A church is burnt at Romans-sur-Isere in the Alps. Expulsion proceedings are launched against 10 foreign nationals accused of taking part in the riots. 17 November Police announce a 'return to normal' throughout France. In 22 days of rioting, 9 ,071 vehicles have been destroyed, 2,921 people taken in for questioning - a thi rd of them minors - and 126 police and gendarmes injured.Anatomy of an uprising Source: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/magazine/story/0,,1702209,00.html =================================== Muslim protesters and counter-demonstrators face-off in Montreal 11 February 2006 David Ouellette Muslim demonstrators protesting the publication of satirical drawings of their p rophet Mohammed in the European press faced-off with counter-demonstrators suppo rting freedom of expression this afternoon in downtown Montreal. Chanting Coranic verses and "Allahu Akhbar", around 300 mostly Muslim protesters answered the call of Al-Qods Mosque imam Said Jaziri and gathered on McGill Ave nue at the corner of Sherbrooke street, exhibiting banners and signs in French, English and Arabic stating the Islamic creed that "there is no God but Allah and that Mohammed is his messenger". Intimidation of Muslims no solution to terrorism Addressing the crowd in French, imam Jaziri said that vandalism against two loca l mosques earlier this week, and an assault on an imam (denied refugee claimant Faysal Zirari) had intimidated Muslims from participating in the demonstration i n large numbers. "It is not through intimidation", he claimed, "that the complex problem of terrorism will be solved". Jaziri added that demonstrators wanted to be heard and proove Muslims are not "barbarians". He also warned demonstrators not to succumb to provocations in reference to counter-demonstrators standing a few meters away. Fearing violence could break out, several Canadian Islamic organizations, includ ing the Muslim Council of Montreal, advised Muslims not to attend the demonstrat ion. Jaziri, who is facing deportation for concealing from immigration authoriti es a jail sentence he served in France for assault was deemed this week by the M ontreal Muslim News website "a controversial figure in the community". A planned march to the Consulate of Denmark was dropped, organizers said, to dem onstrate their goodwill. (JPG) Click image to watch video Counter-demonstrator asked to explain why he is wearing Mohammed caricature: raw attention on problem of Islamic violence

to d

(JPG) Click image to watch video Michel Brunelle fending off accusations of racism: "I did not say a word about y

our race, don t put words in my mouth" Across the street at the entrance of McGill University, a smaller group of count er-demonstrators held banners stating "Freedom of the press is sacred" or denoun cing religious persecution and intolerance of Christians and Jews in Islamic cou ntries. The counter-demonstrators all described themselves as citizens concerned about freedom of expression and the threats posed by religious extremists to Ca nada s secular order. (JPG) Click image to watch video Many Muslim protesters who crossed the street to speak with the counter-demonstr ators, claimed they felt insulted by the banners and signs which they deemed pro vocative and disrespectful. Some of the signs displayed satirical cartoons of Mo hammed and drawings critical of radical Islam, as well as traditional Islamic fi gurative art depicting Mohammed. Others, still, mocked with equal iconoclasm Jud aism, Christianity and Islam. (JPG) Counter-demonstrators: "stop killing Christians and Jews" Most Muslims who engaged the counter-demonstrators said all they are asking for is respect for their religion and its followers. "You cannot impose respect", sa id counter-demonstrator Michel Brunelle to a Muslim accusing him of racism, "res pect is earned. I have a right to criticize, you cannot take that right away fro m me". A few steps a way, an elderly man told a group of young Muslims gathered around him that he would never accept that any religion impose itself on public discourse or dictate his behaviour. Other counter-demonstrators asked why Muslims protested five months after the or iginal publication of the caricatures and called Muslims protests an attempt to impose through intimidation Islamic values on non-Muslims. When asked by an angry Muslim why he was sporting one of the controversial carto ons on the lapel of his coat, a young man answered that since Canadian media did not reprint the cartoons, he felt compelled to show the public that they are in offensive. Many counter-demonstrators evoked in answer to Muslims argument that I slam respects all faiths the pervasiveness of anti-Semitic and anti-Western prop aganda in the Islamic media, as well as international Islamic terrorism. Though many heated discussions took place under the watchful eye of the police, no violence erupted. Minor incidents did occur, however, including a young man t hreatening to strike a counter-demonstrator, a group of youths who were asked by police officers to remove the Palestinian headdress with which they had masked their faces and the arrest of one man, who shouted anti-Muslim profanities. Source: http://www.judeoscope.ca/article.php3?id_article=0270 =================================== Thousand people in Paris demand justice for Ilan Halimi By Shirli Sitbon in Paris and Yossi Lempkowicz Updated: 19/Feb/2006 More than Thousand Jews marched on Sunday in the streets of Paris, demanding jus tice for Ilan Halimi, the 23-year-old Jewish man who was abducted, tortured and killed near Paris by an organised and dangerous gang.

The spontaneous gathering failed to get support from any Jewish organization. Information on the demonstration circulated within the Jewish community through mobile phone and e-mail messages. Marchers walked down Voltaire Boulevard, past the mobile phone store where Ilan Halimi used to work and where he was approached by his killers a month ago. During the Sunday protest young demonstrators shouted Justice for Ilan , revenge of Ilan , Fofana murderer , in a reference to Youssef Fofana, the head of the gang who i s still at large. Jews from every age and background participated in the walk under heavy rain. Many of them were holding leaflets with Ilan Halimi s picture, the only photography the Halimi family accepted to give out to the press, and only to Jew ish and Israeli media. Incidents due to unnanounced march A few incidents occurred at the end of the gathering. A driver forced his way th rough the demonstrators and was chased down by dozens of young men who damaged t he vehicle. The police was blamed because it didn t prevent cars from circulating down the Bou levard. But undesired incidents were to be expected in this unannounced spontane ous march. A member of the Lubavitch community addressed the crowd with a loudspeaker and s aid: We are being mocked. Nobody takes us seriously. How much longer is this goin g to last? May the Messiah arrive soon. The crowd ended its tribute to Ilan Halimi by saying the Kaddish prayer and obse rving a minute of silence in front of the mobile phone store. Gang chief still at large While three of the 13 people arrested have been indicted, French police were sti ll hunting for Youssef Fofana, the 26-yar-old black Muslim African man, consider ed as the mastermind of the kidnapping ring suspected of using charming women to lure Ilan Halimi to his death. Fofana, who nicknames himself "Brain of Barbarians, is described as "extremely d angerous." The gang is suspected of abducting the 23-year-old Parisian, and subjecting him to horrific tortures before dumping his naked and mutilated body in the street near a suburban train station last Monday. Handcuffed, gagged and covered in burns and torture marks, he died on the way to hospital. Twelve suspects, aged 17 to 32, were held in overnight raids in the south Paris suburbs, most on a housing estate in Bagneux, while a 13th was arrested in Belgi um, Paris state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin told a press conference on Friday. Halimi went missing in late January after agreeing to a date with an unknown woman who approached him at his workplace. Using beautiful women as "bait", the gang are thought to have attempted six or s

even other botched kidnappings, Marin said. Jewish community shocked Halimi s abduction has sent a shockwave through France s Jewish community, since Hal imi and several other targets were Jewish, leading France s Jewish community umbre lla group, the CRIF, to issue an appeal for calm and caution on Friday. But uneasiness was perceptible in the Paris synagogues over Shabbat.

On the eve of the annual CRIF dinner, which will bring together France's main po litical, social, religious leaders and Jewish community dignitaries, many Jews a re expecting that they pay tribute to the memory of Ilan Halimi. "As one of the topics of this dinner is expected to be the drop in anti-Semitic acts in the country last year, this murder is giving this dinner another course ," a Jewish official told EJP. Halimi s family and Jewish community security services for they part said they sus pect that the crime may have been motivated by anti-Semitism. We think there is anti-Semitism in this affair, Rafi, Ilan s brother in law, told EJ P. He mentioned the fact that the kidnappers recited verses of the Koran during phone appeals to the family. French daily Le Monde revealed that one of the people arrested told police that the gang had chosen Jewish targets. Some 1,000 people attended the young man s burial ceremony at a Jewish cemetery in Paris on Friday. Prosecutor : No evidence of anti-Semitic motive But the Paris prosecutor said there was "so far no evidence of an anti-Semitic motive" and that the gang was apparently driven by money. Text messages and emails showing pictures of him, captive and blindfolded, had b een sent to his family along with demands for a 400,000-euro ransom. According to the prosecutor, however, Halimi was tortured in scenes reminiscent of the abuse of prisoners at Baghdad s notorious Abu Ghraib jail. Held prisoner in a Bagneux apartment, "naked, with his face covered," he was abu sed in "a repetition of scenes seen elsewhere", the prosecutor said. Marin also said the ringleader had repeated his ransom demands in a telephone call to Halimi s family on Thursday, days after the young man s body was f ound, threatening them with death unless they paid. Police quoted in the French press had questioned whether money was the real moti ve, one saying the gang appeared to playing a sadistic "game". The gang had lowered its ransom demands from 400,000 euros to 100,000 then dropp ing them as low as 5,000 euros, before it eventually broke off contact. The breakthrough in the investigation came on Thursday, when a young blonde woma n turned herself in to police, saying she had recognized herself in a computer-g enerated portrait of a suspect circulated to the press. She confirmed that she had been asked to entice two young men, without knowing w

hat they risked, but had failed to draw them in. The young women, who has also been detained, agreed to lead police to the other gang members. The gang s method of using sex to lure in kidnap victims mirrors the plot of a 199 0s French film "L Appat" (The Bait) by film director Bertrand Tavernier. Source: http://www.ejpress.org/article/news/france/5986 =============================== The Sorrow And The Pity Murder leaves French Jews reeling. Philadelphia Jewish Voice, PA - Feb 26, 2006 Just as French officials and Jewish communal leaders were hailing the sharp drop in anti-Semitic incidents in 2005, their long-held greatest fear occurred: A yo ung Jewish man was murdered because of his religion. The naked and mutilated body of Ilan Halimi, 23, was found last week in a Paris suburb after he spent 21 days of captivity in the hands of a criminal gang calle d "the Barbarians." Halimi, a cell phone vendor of modest background, died on hi s way to the hospital. The police initially indicated that the kidnap and murder were motivated by gree d. But after an angry protest by the Jewish community, and widespread condemnati on of the gruesome act, the French government and the investigative judge announ ced early this week that the authorities were contemplating hate-crime charges i n addition to kidnapping and murder. Instead of an Islamist-inspired hit fueled by the intifada, French Jews found th emselves facing a gruesome crime inspired by an age-old anti-Semitic stereotype: Jews are rich. "The truth is that these crooks acted primarily for sordid and vile motives, to get money, but they were convinced that 'the Jews have money,' and if those they kidnapped didn't have money, their family and their community would come up wit h it," Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy told lawmakers Tuesday. "That's called 'anti-Semitism by amalgam.'" The previous day, the judge overseeing the probe instructed investigators to loo k into anti-Semitic motives in the cases of seven of the 13 suspects arrested af ter some of them reportedly admitted that Halimi has been targeted because he wa s Jewish and out of the belief that since Jews are rich, they could obtain a hef ty ransom. The gang called and e-mailed Halimi's family repeatedly to ask for money. When f amily members said that they could not find the $500,000, the kidnappers told th em to "go and ask in the synagogues," according to French press reports. When th e kidnappers realized that Halimi was poor and that the family was not respondin g, they became frustrated; they beat up Halimi before dumping him on railway tra cks with 80% of his body burned and bruised. The justice minister announced the judge's decision just before the annual dinne r of the Jewish umbrella organization CRIF, held Monday night. Commentators saw the announcement as a maneuver to soothe the anger of the Jewish community, whic h had held a street protest the previous day. The protest featured accusations t hat the government was minimizing the crime to avoid increasing tensions that li

nger from riots late last year by predominantly Muslim youths. At the CRIF dinner, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin promised Jewish leaders that investigators would "shed light" on "an odious crime." In recent weeks, French officials had announced that the number of anti-Semitic incidents had dropped by 47% in 2005 compared with the year before. And Jewish c ommunal leaders expressed cautious optimism that the wave of violence unleashed by the violence in the West Bank and Gaza was receding. While several searches resulted in the location of some radical Islamic literatu re, Jewish observers said that the gang made up of Muslims and non-Muslims was m otivated not by solidarity with radical Islamic groups but by anti-Jewish stereo types popular in many downtrodden suburbs. "This is anti-Jewish hatred," said Sammy Ghozlan, a former police officer who se t up a Jewish security group and is known for his outspokenness against anti-Sem itic violence. "You see it in the choice of the target and in the way they treat ed him when they had him." Halimi's mother, well known in Parisian Jewish circles because she works at one of the capital's main communal centers, accused police of ignoring this motive f or fear of upsetting Muslims. If her son "hadn't been Jewish, he wouldn't have been killed," she told Ha'aretz . "We told the police there were at least three attempted kidnappings of young J ews, but they kept insisting that the motives were purely criminal." Ghozlan said she was upset that the police had ordered her not to respond to mes sages from the gang which numbered more than 600. He also said that the investig ators tried but failed to localize the calls through wiretaps and tracing. Sarkozy told the parliament that in the homes of some suspects, the police had f ound "salafist" literature. By this he was referring to an ideological strain of North African Islamists that has, at times, been linked to Al Qaeda. He also sa id that police discovered fliers from a pro-Palestinian nongovernmental organiza tion that had been listed by the U.S. Treasury Department as a Hamas front in Au gust 2003 (French authorities investigated the NGO, but they found no evidence o f ties to Hamas). Sarkozy, who is a leading contender in next year's French presidential race and employs tough tactics on crime and anti-Semitism that have endeared him to the J ewish community, also said that four of the six other people whom the gang had a pproached and tried to kidnap were Jewish. According to the daily Le Parisien, a woman who had tried to lure two men into t he gang's clutches admitted to police that she was instructed to target Jewish m en. The gang reportedly taunted Halimi's family, as well as a rabbi, with anti-S emitic epithets and recited Koranic verses during telephone calls and in e-mails . At one point, the kidnappers called the father just before the funeral Februar y 17 to issue death threats and to read verses from the Koran, according to a Je wish source who attended a meeting Tuesday between Sarkozy and Jewish leaders. The kidnappers also sent photos showing the victim with a gun to his head, bound and blindfolded. One of criminals initially told the police that he had burned a cigarette on Halimi's head because he was Jewish but then retracted his statem ent and said he had acted because he was angry, according to the Jewish source w ho attended the briefing with Sarkozy. Those actions and others led prosecutors to add aggravating circumstances of anti-Semitism to the charges sought against some of the suspects. While Jewish leaders who often had criticized the tepid ha ndling of anti-Semitic cases by French courts hailed the judge's decision, they

noted that the hate-crime charges still could be dropped if the evidence is not sufficient. Justice Minister Pascal Clement said the police are still looking for the suspec ted ringleader, Youssef Fofana, an ex-convict who may have fled to the Ivory Coa st. On Monday, two civil rights organizations that work mostly with Muslim communiti es condemned the killing of Halimi. Both the Movement Against Racism and for Fri endship Among Peoples and the SOS Racism group said they planned to show solidar ity with the Jewish community by joining forces with the prosecution as civil pl aintiffs in the case. For the first time in years, SOS Racism will participate i n a demonstration organized by major Jewish groups. The event is scheduled for n ext Sunday, March 5, in Paris. "We want to make this a turning point and try to make sure that the widespread e motion can be channeled to stop this criminal violence, especially racist violen ce," said Patrick Klugman, vice president of SOS Racism. Klugman is also a CRIF board member. "This is a seminal moment for France." By Marc Perelman. Source: http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=&q=france+street+demonstration&ie= UTF-8&sa=N&start=40 =============================== French Students to Join Unions in Protest Against Jobs Plan March 7 (Bloomberg) -- French students are set to take to the streets today in P aris and other cities as they protest against Prime Minister Dominique de Villep in's labor policies. In their first large-scale demonstration in a decade, students will join trade u nions and civil servants in a one-day protest against a law de Villepin has intr oduced to fight youth unemployment. The new law, called ``contrat premiere embau che,'' or CPE, lets companies fire workers under 26 within the first two years o n a job with little notice or severance. ``De Villepin is institutionalizing uncertainty in the labor market,'' Yann Benh ayoun, 25, who studies mathematics and computer science at Paris VII-Denis Dider ot University and is a representative of UNEF student union, said last week. De Villepin, 52, says his plans will bring more flexibility to the labor market and cut the jobless rate for people under 25. At 22.8 percent, the youth unemplo yment rate is more than double the 9.6 percent overall clip. France's unemployme nt is higher than the 8.3 percent rate for the 12 nations sharing the euro, and Villepin has said getting youths into work is his government's top priority. ``It's not because tomorrow you're going to make divorce easier that you're goin g to have more marriages,'' Jean-Claude Mailly, Secretary General of Force Ouvri ere, France's third- biggest union, said in an interview on RMC radio station to day. ``You need a contract of confidence between employees and companies. One ca n't go to work in the morning knowing that he can be fired before the end of the day.'' Revocation Demanded In Paris, the protestors are planning to march from Place de la Republique at 2 p.m., according to the website of UNEF, the country's largest student union. Abo ut 160 marches are planned across the country. Train and subway networks are not

expected to face any disruption, according to the national railway Societe Nati onale des Chemins de Fer de France, or SNCF, and the Reseau Autonome des Transpo rt Parisiens, or RATP, which manages the Paris metro. The student protests come 15 months before France's presidential elections, sche duled for May 2007. The students, like the unions, say they want the new labor l aw revoked. In November 1995, university students took to the streets to protest plans by then-Prime Minister Alain Juppe to reform pensions and social security . After the protests, Juppe abandoned his pension plan. Public Support Sixty-five percent of French people support the student protest, down from the 6 7 percent that agreed with the Feb. 7 protest and 72 percent that backed an Oct. 4 march, according to a BVA poll for BFM television and Les Echos newspaper. BV A interviewed 1,007 people on March 3 and 4. ``Even if the government can be pleased that fewer voters find the anti-CPE prot est justifiable, it hasn't gained the street battle yet,'' said Gael Sliman, the deputy director of BVA Opinion said in a commentary accompanying the poll. ``Th e people justifying the protest in the most extreme manner have increased.'' Opposition to the new labor plan adds to de Villepin's woes. Since the beginning of the year, the government has had to contend with the spread of avian flu and the death of more than 77 people in the French Indian Ocean island of Reunion b ecause of a mosquito-bred disease. It drew heat from the European Union and trad e unions for a government-orchestrated merger between Suez SA and Gaz de France SA that kept at bay a possible purchase of Suez by Italy's Enel SpA. Second Attempt De Villepin forced the labor bill that introduces the CPE through Parliament usi ng special constitutional powers to enact it. The bill was adopted Feb. 28. The youth employment plan marks de Villepin's second set of proposals to ease Fr ance's labor market to encourage hiring. In August, he enacted a new work contra ct, called ``contrat nouvelle embauche,'' or CNE, allowing companies with fewer than 20 employees to fire more easily. Thirteen universities in Paris and major cities, including Aix en Provence, Bord eaux, Lille and Nantes, have been on strike for over a week as students coordina te with trade unions to take to the streets today. Students blockaded universiti es and teaching was suspended or disrupted, UNEF said. Getting as many as 500,000 participants across the country to protest the law `` would be very good,'' Bernard Thibault, Secretary General of Confederation Gener ale du Travail, France's largest union, told Le Parisien in an interview publish ed yesterday. Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=a2AU9Um6UAIE&refer=e urope ============================ TODAY'S DATE: 12/03/2006 7:34:59 AM Sorbonne left ransacked after French protests Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:29 PM ET14

By Tim Hepher and Dominique Rodriguez PARIS (Reuters) - Riot police stood guard at Paris's Sorbonne university after b reaking up a three-day sit-in there on Saturday and a clean-up operation began a s France tried to quell student protests over job reforms. Education Minister Gilles de Robien visited ransacked offices and held up torn b ooks at the birthplace of France's May 1968 student protest movement, hours afte r police in riot gear stormed the building and ejected about 200 students and ot her protestors who had occupied the building since Wednesday. "This is what happens when you call for disorder," he said. The protests fall well short of a rebellion against France's old guard which beg an in the Sorbonne and spread to streets and factories in 1968, leading to early elections and destabilizing President Charles de Gaulle who resigned a year lat er. But they present a new test for Gaullist Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, w hose plans to relax labor laws have forced his government to tackle street unres t for the second time in five months following suburban Paris riots last year. Villepin, whose popularity in opinion polls has been tumbling, was preparing a m ajor television interview for Sunday. His number two in the conservative government, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy , who is also seen as his main rival in 2007 presidential elections, cut short a trip to the French West Indies because of the protests. Police using tear gas stormed the Sorbonne just before 4 a.m. (0300 GMT), forcin g out around 200 students and arresting 11 people, a police spokesman said. University authorities said the protesters had destroyed historic documents in t he School of National Charters, an archive of pre-French Revolution texts held a t the Sorbonne. But students denied any organized effort to damage the university and accused th e police of using unnecessary violence. "Police showed violence which went beyond all the limits. People were playing mu sic and they just got attacked in the most incredible way," said Marianne, a 20year-old theater student. Students planned a further demonstration in central Paris on Saturday evening. VILLEPIN POPULARITY TESTED Thousands of people have protested this week at Villepin's plan to introduce a f lexible First Employment Contract (CPE), which critics say will allow employers to hire and fire young workers more easily, with students demonstrating across F rance. The CPE contract would allow firms to hire people aged under 26 for a two-year t rial before offering them a permanent job. Villepin says the CPE will encourage firms to hire young people. "We have the impression the government has decided to respond to the student mov ement with truncheons and repression," said Bruno Julliard, president of student s' union UNEF.

"If the government wants to continue using force to wage a battle for the CPE, a s Villepin says, then we are heading toward a serious conflict." Two people were treated for minor injuries including a photographer who was stru ck as demonstrators threw bottles, chairs and fire extinguishers at the police. Villepin, widely believed to be considering a presidential bid in 2007, has made reducing jobless queues his top priority since becoming prime minister nine mon ths ago, but he has seen his popularity hit by opposition to the new employment plan. An opinion poll published on Monday showed a seven-point fall in his approval ra ting in the past month to its lowest level since he was named prime minister in May 2005. (Additional reporting by Paul Carrel) Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved. Source: http://today.reuters.com/News/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=20 06-03-11T182917Z_01_L10677525_RTRUKOC_0_US-FRANCE-PROTEST.xml =================================== TODAY'S DATE: 13/03/2006 7:28:03 AM Rising Barriers French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is leading a new wave of protectioni sm in Europe but also, possibly, one of reform. By Eric Pape and Christopher Dickey Newsweek International March 20, 2006 issue - Like his hero Charles de Gaulle, Dominique de Villepin se es himself as a man of action. When France's prime minister mulls tough decision s in Matignon, his official palace on the Left Bank, he casts an aristocratic ey e on the general's famous fighting words, ceremoniously framed: FRANCE HAS LOST A BATTLE. BUT FRANCE HAS NOT LOST THE WAR! De Gaulle called on his countrymen to resist German occupation in 1940. Villepin today calls on France to protect Fre nch jobs. "The true evil," he said upon taking office in June, is unemployment. "All of the forces of my government will be engaged in this battle." He vowed to "mobilize every asset of our economic and industrial policy" and staked his polit ical future on the fight. Beware what you ask for. France's unemployment remains stubbornly high despite V illepin's promises highlighted just last week by protests that brought half a mill ion demonstrators into the streets of France. His approval ratings have slipped to an anemic, Bush-like 36 percent. That may explain the somewhat desperate rhet oric that has crept into his exhortations lately. Now as he talks about jobs, Vi llepin also talks a lot about protecting French industries. His tone suggests he bel ieves walls can hold back the flood of global, and even European, competition. He's not alone. All across Europe people are afraid. For some, the worry is Chin a and the seepage of jobs abroad. For others, it's a more generalized fear that, with globalization, they can only lose out. "There's a neo-nationalism in Europ e," says Columbia University economics professor Xavier Sala-i-Martin. "They don 't even believe in their own project. They say they want a big market for capita l and goods, but when it doesn't go well, they resort to neo-protectionism." So as the French prime minister shouts "To the barricades!" the battle cry is being

echoed across the Continent, with potentially disastrous consequences. Even those who don't ordinarily read the business pages know Villepin's recent w orks, and see his hand. Listing "strategic" industries to be protected, France h as tried to push back an Italian bid to take over the French water and energy co mpany Suez, as well as a move by Indian magnate Lakshmi Mittal's Dutch-based com pany to acquire steel giant Arcelor. Even the food empire Danone, most famous fo r yogurt, has been deemed of vital interest. The obvious idea is to tilt the pla ying field in favor of French "national champions," the political goal to convin ce the French people that all this will somehow preserve their jobs. In Brussels, Villepin is seen as a sort of latter-day Luddite trashing the alrea dy rickety European economic machine. He threatens Europe's prosperity, they say , by inciting a tit-for-tat cycle of protection and retribution. "It is another sign of a type of closing off, nationally, after, the rejection of the EU consti tution," says Frederique Sachwald of the French Institute for International Rela tions. "The year 2005 was a dark one for Europe, and France contributed to that, and it continues to do so." Italian Economics Minister Giulio Tremonti talks ab out a "1914 effect," looking back to the eve of World War I, when the nations of Europe turned against each other with increasingly ugly protectionist competiti on instead of cooperation. Eric Chaney, an economist at Morgan Stanley, makes an analogy with the 1930s: "The Great Depression in the U.S. became a global depre ssion, because in trying to protect itself, it killed globalization." Given such dire predictions, what does Villepin think he's doing? Well, look at what else his office holds. There is an African sculpture with two heads facing in opposite directions. And there's a battered old copy of Antoine de Saint-Exup ery's famous children's book, "The Little Prince." The wisdom it conveys, proffe red by a fox, is far different from de Gaulle's: "What is essential is invisible to the eye." Even as Villepin extolls national champions, he's tried quietly to push for economic reforms. In fact, Villepin epitomizes a kind of political rea lism (or hypocrisy) that's spreading every bit as fast as protectionism in Europ e. Like prestidigitators, politicians distract their audience with big talk abou t national industries and promises to protect jobs, even as they implement, as i f by sleight of hand, policies intended to open their countries to more foreign investment and to liberalize their labor markets. Reforms, in other words, that however unpopular in the here and now, hold the prospect of greater economic hea lth in the future. Take but one of the most conspicuous examples of recent weeks Villepin's maneuveri ng to prevent the Italian energy company Enel from taking over the major French energy company Suez. It is a masterpiece of calculated confusion. To stop the de al, French politicians (reportedly including President Jacques Chirac) have call ed up their Italian counterparts and warned them to back off. Meanwhile, they've worked hard to engineer a merger of two French giants, Suez and formerly stateowned utility Gaz de France, effectively blocking the Enel bid. The European Commission in Brussels has angrily demanded an explanation but the ke y consideration cannot be acknowledged, at least not officially. The Suez merger with Gaz de France will shrink the French state's share in Gaz de France from 8 0 percent to about 35 percent. It's a stealth privatization, in other words, tha t would long have been unthinkable in political terms, even though many analysts thought it necessary before the energy sector is deregulated across Europe next year. "This is a classic French move: rhetoric to the left, movement to the rig ht; talk a big line, then do what's sensible," says Paul Hofheinz of the pro-ref orm Lisbon Council in Brussels. Of course, says Hofheinz, this came at the cost of Villepin's "spreading poisono us rumors among his own people, using the butt-covering of economic nationalism. " And in that especially he is not alone. As the campaigns heat up for Italy's e

lections next month, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and challenger Romano Prod i have been treating the French maneuver against Enel as a national insult, hint ing at retaliation against French companies that want to acquire Italian ones. S pain has extended the power of its regulators to impede takeovers of Spanish uti lities. Politicians in Germany have famously denounced foreign "locusts" buying up German companies, even as they clash with Brussels over the so-called Volkswa gen Law protecting the automaker from foreign takeovers. But the French case is especially striking because even as Villepin publicizes h is desire to protect whole categories of "strategic" industries, France has accu mulated an impressive record opening itself to foreign investors. Over New Year' s, Villepin won a measure giving the French state a veto over foreign acquisitio ns in industries deemed critical to national security. Yet the International Mon etary Fund recently calculated that foreign direct investment represents only ab out 13 percent of GDP in Italy, 25 percent in Germany, a respectable 36 percent in Britain and a whopping 42 percent in France. Chaney of Morgan Stanley suggest s that precisely because France is so open to outside investors, "the political reaction is the most sensitive." Similarly, last week's big protests are an indi cation of how dramatic Villepin's labor reforms actually are. During his first e ight months in office, he managed to push the unemployment rate down from 10.1 p ercent to 9.6 percent. But, recognizing that the jobs picture couldn't keep impr oving without more draconian action and that he couldn't reach a presidential runoff without more support from the French right Villepin in January pushed through a special employment contract for people under 26 that encouraged hiring by allo wing employers to fire, if need be, with little or no penalty during the first t wo years on the job. This may sound harmless enough in the fluid labor markets o f Britain or the United States, where there are many jobs, and many of those are essentially temporary. But the French are used to the idea that jobs are perman ent, or ought to be. "You work for Peugeot; you become Peugeotist. Until now, yo u've had a career inside a company," says Jean-Louis Borloo, whose ponderous tit le is minister of Employment, Labor and Social Cohesion. "It is difficult for Fr ench society to deal with that changing." But global competition works against this kind of comfortable tenure. Companies that can't adapt quickly because they can't change or reduce their personnel oft en just drop dead. Then everybody loses. "People are starting to realize that we need an administration that allows greater mobility, but it isn't easy," says B orloo. It's particulary difficult in a climate so charged with nationalism. Some advocates of global commerce take comfort in the fact that Villepin's abili ty to follow through on protectionist rhetoric, even if he wants to, is extremel y limited. The struggle against Mittal Steel's bid for Arcelor is perfect proof. "There is a bit of grandstanding," says Guillaume Durance, an analyst with the European Policy Center in Brussels. "The first reaction to the Mittal bid was he avily negative and to some extent xenophobic, but there was absolutely nothing t he French government could do. There is no breach [by Mittal] of existing rules. " European Commissioner Frits Bolkestein, who penned a controversial directive t o open up European service industries, told a recent gathering of business leade rs in Paris that, overall, European protectionism "is declining." Opportunistic politicians campaigning against Brussels or their neighbors may slow the tide of global markets, he said, but they won't stop it. Yet the risk endures that protectionist rhetoric, even as a smoke screen for cau tious reform, will become a reality that's harder and harder to overcome. "Prote ctionism is almost never unilateral, it almost always entails countermeasures an d responses," says Daniel Vasella, CEO of the Swiss-based health-care giant Nova rtis. "It is always a negative spiral." Protectionist posturing destroys busines s confidence. "For a free flow of capital and investments, predictability is imp ortant. You can't say to investors and companies: "You can enter but you may pos sibly not exit'," says Vasella.

The larger problem with the bait-and-switch approach to reform is that it will n ever become easier. "The saddest part of all this, and the most dangerous thing Villepin is doing," says Hofheinz, "is that no one is explaining the basic fact to people that open borders are good for France." Ultimately politicians who int end to lead have to learn that what is essential, in fact, must be visible to th e eye. With Karen Lowry Miller in Brussels and William Underhill in London ======================= French govt slams violence during job law protests Fri Mar 17, 2006 10:10 AM GMT162 By Swaha Pattanaik PARIS (Reuters) - The French government on Friday condemned violence that marred protests against its youth job law but faced mounting public hostility to a mea sure which critics say will erode employment security. Thursday's nationwide marches brought hundreds of thousands onto the streets of France and turned violent in some areas, notably Paris, where police used tearga s and water cannon on stone-throwing protesters and 187 people were arrested. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin now faces a tough choice of a humiliating r etreat or a protracted battle of wills with students and unions. "I want to express my indignation about the absolutely intolerable violent behav iour seen yesterday evening. What happened yesterday evening is unacceptable," g overnment spokesman Jean-Francois Cope told Europe 1 radio. But with more demonstrations planned for Saturday, Villepin must decide whether to stand by the law that is increasingly unpopular with voters and could damage his chances of contesting presidential elections next year. An opinion poll published in Friday's Le Parisien newspaper showed 68 percent wa nt the youth job contract withdrawn, a rise of 13 percentage points in a week, w ith those opposed to such a move staying little changed at 27 percent from 26 pe rcent. Villepin has championed the law, which would allow employers to dismiss under-26 s during a two-year trial period without having to give a reason. He insists it will help cut youth unemployment, which is more than twice the national rate. "THE BIG DEADLOCK" "Given that any real discussion seems to be excluded, it is difficult to see how the prime minister can get out of the crisis," the left-leaning Liberation news paper wrote in an editorial. "He can persist, betting on forcing it through -- a high risk wager for which he could pay for dearly even if he wins, because he is going against a public opin ion that is increasingly hostile to his project." "As for a pure and simple withdrawal, that would be equivalent to a deep humilia tion," it added. While Liberation's front page led with the headline 'The big deadlock', Employme nt Minister Jean-Louis Borloo tried to play down the crisis.

"I don't doubt for a single moment that responsible adults and republicans can t ake the necessary steps to find a solution," he told France 2 television. The opposition Socialist Party refused to make the government's job any easier. "I really call on the government to withdraw this bad project before there is a serious accident," Laurent Fabius, a former prime minister who wants to be the o pposition Socialist Party's presidential candidate in 2007, told LCI television. "At the heart of this affair is the fact that this law is bad because it will no t create jobs for young people. You can't resolve the country's problems by incr easing insecurity." Fabius said Saturday's protests were likely to be huge, bringing more than one m illion into the streets. Estimates of how many took part in Thursday's protests varied. Official counts r eported 247,500 nationwide. Student leaders put the figure between 300,000 and 6 00,000 and said 64 of the country's 84 universities were hit by the protests. Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved. Source: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID= 2006-03-17T101046Z_01_L17342207_RTRUKOC_0_UK-FRANCE.xml ============================ 300 held as riots rock France 17/03/2006 15:08 - (SA) Paris - French authorities announced the arrest of 300 people on Friday, after s treet protests over youth job reforms turned violent overnight. The threat of more unrest now hangs over marches planned for the weekend. French president Jacques Chirac said the government was "open to dialogue" and c alled for negotiations to "begin as soon as possible". The violence was the wors t since the protests began. In central Paris, 187 people were arrested as gangs of youths - described as out side troublemakers - overturned cars and threw petrol bombs at police, who repel led them with tear gas and water cannons. Police said 46 officers were injured, including 11 who were hospitalised, in cla shes in the capital, and several officers were hurt in the northern city of Renn es, where police made 19 arrests. Between 250 000 and half-a-million people demonstrated in 80 French towns and ci ties on Thursday, in a show of force over the new contract, which is opposed by students, unions, the left-wing opposition and two-thirds of the public. Chirac calls for calm and respect Chirac repeated his defence of the First Employment Contract (CPE) saying it was an "important element" in fighting youth unemployment. He called for Saturday's protest marches to be held in an atmosphere of "calm an

d respect". Interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy blamed Thursday's violence on "hooligans" from the far-left and far-right, as well as young delinquents from the Paris suburbs , who he said had infiltrated the march. Several hundred people were involved in the fighting, which broke out on the Pla ce de la Sorbonne after the end of a major student demonstration in the Latin Qu arter, which drew tens of thousands of protestors. Cafes were vandalised and a bookshop went up in flames, as tear gas fumes filled the air, with calm returning early on Friday. "There were a few hundred delinquents out looking for a fight," Sarkozy said, af ter meeting police and firefighters in Paris overnight. "Among them were elements of the extreme left and extreme right, hooligans, and thugs from a number of neighbourhoods," he said. Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who championed the CPE as a key tool to en courage companies to hire more young people, faces the most serious test of his premiership as opposition to the scheme continues to grow. Source: http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1900140,00.html ========================== Huge protests against French job law, some violence Sat Mar 18, 2006 7:42 PM GMT13 By Matthew Bigg and Kerstin Gehmlich PARIS (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of students, workers and left-wing polit icians took to the streets across France on Saturday to press the conservative g overnment to scrap a new law they fear will erode job security. Pleased with the turnout, student and trade union leaders said President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin "bear full responsibility for t hese social tensions" and agreed to meet on Monday to consider further action. The marches were mostly festive and peaceful, but dozens of youths pelted police with missiles, overturning and setting fire to a car at the end of the main pro test in Paris. Police fired many rounds of tear gas to clear them from Nation sq uare. Scattered violence was also reported in Marseille, Rennes and Lille, where polic e also charged and teargassed crowds. In the first official reaction, government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope said: "B eyond the passions of the moment, don't we all have an interest in a dialogue?" But he ducked a television interviewer's question whether the government would w ithdraw the controversial law, which the unions say must be scrapped before they will sit down and talk. Organisers estimated the turnout nationwide at 1.3 to 1.4 million, with up to 40 0,000 of them in Paris. As usual, the official count was lower -- the Interior M inistry reported 503,000 nationwide, with 80,000 in Paris. The protesters demanded Villepin withdraw the "First Job Contract" or CPE, which

lets firms fire workers under 26 without explanation in their first two years o n the job. He launched it to spur wary employers to take on new staff. In the western city of Rennes, students wore plastic garbage bags with signs dec laring: "I am disposable." "I risk working for two years for nothing, just to be fired at any moment," said Paris student Coralie Huvet, 20, who had "No to the CPE" written on her forehea d. Pointing to painted-on tears, she added: "That's depressing, that's why I'm c rying." YOUNG AND OLD UNITED Organisers, who decry the CPE as a "Kleenex contract" that lets young workers be "thrown away like a paper tissue," said they hoped to have up to 1.5 million pe ople out marching in the third national protest in six weeks. The Paris march began with students in front and workers behind, but turned into a multi-generational mix including many parents who accompanied their teenage c hildren. Banners declared "No to throw-away youths" and "Tired Of Being Squeezed Lemons." Opposition Socialist and Communist politicians also joined the protest, only the third time in almost four decades -- after 1968 and 1994 -- that students and w orkers marched together. Union leaders suggested they might call a one-day general strike soon, but did n ot immediately announce any plans. In the Paris unrest, 12 protesters were injured and 14 arrested, police said, wh ile four policemen were also hurt. In Rennes, police had to storm a group of protesters to remove them from a railw ay line they were blocking. Another group attacked the local office of the gover ning UMP party. Villepin, whose gamble on this unpopular contract could cost him his chance to r un for president next year, has pledged not to give in to street pressure. At th e same time, he hinted on Friday evening that he could make some adjustments to the law. Unemployment is the top political issue in France, where the national average is 9.6 percent and youth joblessness is double that. The rate rises to 40-50 perce nt in some of the poor suburbs hit by several weeks of youth rioting last autumn . Defending the CPE contract, Cope argued it was better than the present situation in which 70 percent of employees under 26 work under short-term contracts of on ly a few months, after which they can be fired just as easily as with the new co ntract. The protesters responded with one popular slogan: "The CPE is not better than no thing, it's worse than everything." Latest opinion polls show that 68 percent of French people oppose the law, a ris e of 13 percentage points in a week, and that Villepin's popularity has dropped six points to 37 percent. The crisis has isolated Villepin politically at a time when his patron Chirac is himself badly weakened. Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, Villepin's main riva

l on the right, has stood back discreetly as the prime minister's troubles mount . Unexpected violence broke out in Lyon when a march of about 2,500 Turks protesti ng against a memorial to Armenian victims of a 1915 massacre in the then Ottoman Empire crossed paths with the anti-CPE demonstrations. Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved. Source: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID= 2006-03-18T194204Z_01_L17342207_RTRUKOC_0_UK-FRANCE.xml =================================== TODAY'S DATE: 24/03/2006 8:05:14 AM Protests in France erupt into violence Reuters, The Associated Press, The New York Times THURSDAY, MARCH 23, 2006 PARIS Cars were burned and shops smashed Thursday in the center of Paris as vand als erupted from the ranks of student demonstrators trying to force the governme nt of Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to withdraw a hotly contested new emp loyment law. Paris's stately Esplanade des Invalides was covered with tear gas and smoke as r iot police battled with protesters who threw chunks of concrete at police office rs. Only hours earlier, France's most powerful trade unions agreed to meet Frida y with Villepin to discuss the employment law. While the vast majority of people protesting the law were peaceful, small groups of youths have used the demonstrations as occasions to make trouble. That has only increased pressure on the government to find a way out of its poli tical morass before the violence spreads or causes a serious death or injury. Plumes of smoke billowed skyward as youths set trash cans on fire, and vandals s mashed glass bus shelters and windows at several shops. A phalanx of hundreds of riot police, three officers deep, pressed forward to drive back the protesters and blocked off the ornate Alexandre III bridge. Dozens of people appeared injured, and the police said 42 people had been arrest ed. "The movement is destroying itself, we've turned upon each other," said Gael Oja rdias, a 25-year-old cook at the Paris march, after watching demonstrators turn on a fellow marcher and beat him violently. It was the latest in several protests in recent weeks over the law, which has th rown the government into a crisis and wreaked havoc at universities, many hit by strikes. A radical fringe emerged at the start of the Paris march, jumping on cars and br eaking shop windows. Several journalists and others were roughed up by protester s. At least 30 cars had their hoods crushed in and windshields broken. Fallout from the jobs law, passed by Parliament this month and expected to take effect in April, has shaken students and government alike.

It could take a toll on the governing conservatives, including Villepin and Inte rior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, both top would-be contenders for the presidential elections next year. Fearing renewed violence, Sarkozy warned Wednesday that those taking part in vio lence would face severe punishment. A 39-year-old demonstrator caught up in the skirmishes with the police on Saturday remained in a coma. By Friday, 21 universities were on strike to protest the jobs law, with disturba nces at 46 others, the Education Ministry said. The protest movement also was di srupting high schools. Unions still planned a national strike Tuesday. Villepin wrote to French trade unions early Thursday, appealing for talks on the new law that they have insisted be rescinded. The education minister invited students to a meeting Friday evening, a student l eader said. Student unions were to meet employee unions on Friday morning. The law, meant to spur hiring, would allow employers to dismiss workers under 26 without cause during their first two years on the job. The legislation is currently under review by France's Constitutional Council. If approved by the council, it would go into effect next month. A centrist opposition leader, Franois Bayrou, said Villepin must remain open to w ithdrawing the law. "The time has come, if we want to avoid mounting dangers and risks, to make this gesture," he said on Europe-1 radio. The country's five major union syndicates had refused to talk to the government as long as the law is on the books, and in a statement released Thursday afterno on they said that in responding to the prime minister, they repeated their deman d that he rescind the law. They called for a meeting Friday of all organizations involved in fighting the n ew law and repeated their call for strikes and demonstrations next Tuesday. But they said they would meet the prime minister later on Friday. Trying to tempt unions to the bargaining table, Villepin said talks would be "ob viously limited in no way," his office said. Villepin has said he is ready to discuss modifying the most criticized aspect of the measure - the two-year period during which an employee can be fired and jus tification for the firing. Currently, none is needed. Sarkozy broke from the prime minister's order for unity within government ranks by suggesting a six-month trial period for the measure, in remarks in Thursday's edition of the weekly Paris- Match. $@ Source: http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/03/23/news/france.php