The movement against the government's first-hire contract continued to swell in extraordinary fashion in cities throughout France. -- Demonstrations around the country on Thursday brought out as many as half a million young people, according to some sources, Le Monde reported early Friday, and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said he was "open to dialogue."[1] -- In five cities, including Paris, violent clashes broke out after marches, Le Monde reported in a separate article.[2] -- A new poll showed that 68% of the French favor abandoning the CPE, Le Monde said....
1.
[Translated from Le Monde (Paris)]
Special edition
The Battle of the CPE
THE MOBILIZATION AGAINST THE CPE GROWS, VIOLENCE MARS MARCHES
** Hundreds of thousands of young people march against the CPE **
Le Monde (Paris)
March 17, 2006
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/articleinteractif/0,41-0@2-734511,49-751660@51-725561,0.html
On Thursday, Mar. 16, young people mobilized against the CPE [Contrat première embauche, the first-hire contract the government has created that allows employers to fire workers under 26 during the first two years of employment] maintained pressure on the government through dozens of demonstrations that brought together between 247,500 and 500,000 people, according to the source, but were sometimes followed by violent incidents, in particular in the Latin Quarter in Paris.
By way of comparison, when the first large days of mobilization against the first-hire contract -- presented by the prime minister exactly two months ago --, between 218,000 and 400,000 people marched on Feb. 7, and between 396,000 according to police and 1 million according to the CGT [Confédération Générale du Travail] on Mar. 7. But those days brought together both young people and workers.
Faced with this mobilization, Dominique de Villepin said he was "open to dialogue" within the legal framework, in order to improve the CPE, and indicated that on Friday he would be receiving university presidents.
In the country as a whole, the mobilization against the CPE was often large: 25,000 people in Bordeaux according to organizers (6,800 according to police), 15,000 in Marseille (7,000), 12,000 in Lille (6,500), 10,000 in Clermont-Ferrand (4,000), and in Angers (4,200), 8,000 in Lyons (5,000).
Gérard Aschieri, secretary general of the FSU [Fédération syndicale unitaire de l'enseignement, de l'éducation, de la recherche et de la culture, de la formation et de l'insertion], the main teacher's union, and Bruno Julliars, president of Unef [Union nationale des étudiants de France], used the same words to hail "a real groundswell among young people."
--
Translated by Mark K. Jensen
Associate Professor of French
Department of Languages and Literatures
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447-0003
Phone: 253-535-7219
Home page: http://www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/
E-mail: jensenmk@plu.edu
2.
[Translated from Le Monde (Paris)]
DEMONSTRATIONS SOMETIMES MARRED BY ACTS OF VIOLENCE
Le Monde (Paris)
March 17, 2006
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/articleinteractif/0,41-0@2-734511,49-751660@45-1909@51-725561,0.html
Incidents, sometimes violent, occurred following some marches, notable in Paris, Rennes, Toulouse, Montpellier, and Chalon-sur-Saône.
Three hundred alleged troublemakers were arrested in France, 180 of them in the capital, according to the minister of the interior, Nicolas Sarkozy, shortly before midnight. According to the chief of police in Paris, Pierre Mutz, the clashes left 46 wounded in the security forces: 39 gendarmes mobiles [a militarized police force], eight of whom were hospitalized, and seven CRS [French riot police], three of whom were hospitalized.
In the capital, where 33,000 people according to police and 120,000 according to organizers had marched peacefully, the Sèvres-Babylone intersection was the scene of clashes. Rioters set fire to a newspaper kiosk and a young man perched on it was hurt trying to get down. Later, in the Latin Quarter, a few hundred youths threw smokebombs, Molotov cocktails, and paving stones at security forces who used water cannons and large quantities of tear gas in reply.
In addition, around 9:30 p.m. the gendarmes mobiles dispersed a demonstration of dozens of militants thought to be from the extreme right who had come to march in the Latin Quarter shouting "Leftists, set our universities free." Helmeted and armed with sticks, they were pursued and struck by other demonstrators. Several of them were arrested.
In Rennes, between 6,000 (police) and 15,000 people (unions) demonstrated peacefully. Then a few dozen youths, some masked, set fire to trash cans, damaged vehicles, and took aim at security forces.
In Vitry-sur-Seine, six young people were arrested and two police wounded during a demonstration. Two hundred high school students were also squared off against security forces in Chalon-sur-Saône : two female students and a policeman were slightly wounded and at least three minors were arrested.
--
Translated by Mark K. Jensen
Associate Professor of French
Department of Languages and Literatures
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447-0003
Phone: 253-535-7219
Home page: http://www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/
E-mail: jensenmk@plu.edu
3.
[Translated from Le Monde (Paris)]
68% OF FRENCH IN FAVOR OF WITHDRAWING CPE
Le Monde (Paris)
March 17, 2006
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/articleinteractif/0,41-0@2-734511,49-751660@45-1910@51-725561,0.html
Sixty-eight percent of French people are in favor of withdrawing the first-hire contract, or 13% more than on Mar. 8 (55%), according to a CSA poll that appeared Friday in Le Parisien-Aujourd'hui en France. Twenty-seven percent say they are against withdrawing the CPE, a figure comparable to last week's (26%).
On the other hand, the number of undecided dropped, since only 19% had no opinion on Mar. 8, down to 5% in the poll made public Thursday.
Asked about their attitude about the demonstration scheduled for Saturday, 63% of those asked said they supported it or "sympathized." Twenty-seven percent were "opposed" or "hostile."
These scores are similar to those on Mar. 7 (61% support or sympathize, 25% opposed or hostile).
Seven percent were indifferent (12% last week), 3% had no opinion (2% previously).
On Feb. 7, 58% of those polled indicated their support or sympathy for the anti-CPE demonstration. Twenty percent expressed their opposition or hostility. Fifteen percent were indifferent, 7% had no opinion.
This CSA poll was conducted by telephone on Mar. 15-16 among 857 people 18 or over (national sample, quota method, stratification by region and urban category).
--
Translated by Mark K. Jensen
Associate Professor of French
Department of Languages and Literatures
Pacific Lutheran University
Tacoma, WA 98447-0003
Phone: 253-535-7219
Home page: http://www.plu.edu/~jensenmk/
E-mail: jensenmk@plu.edu
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