Police, students clash at France's Sorbonne

Updated Sat. Mar. 11 2006 11:54 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff

Riot police stormed France's famous Sorbonne University Saturday morning to remove students occupying the university.

About 200 students were protesting a new employment law that would make it easier for businesses to fire employees younger than 26.

Police used to tear gas to remove the protesters who had barricaded themselves inside a classroom. The protesters had been throwing furniture and ladders out of windows just hours earlier.

Two people were injured. Police arrested at least 27 people. One of the injured was a photographer hit by a object that was thrown.

"I was afraid before they came," Alexandre Eliguler, one of the protesters, told The Associated Press.

"(But) their reaction was rather cool and they pushed us calmly to the exit."

The protestors had broken through police lines to climb through windows. They then joined a sit-in by about 80 people that began Wednesday, according to university administrators.

The occupation of the Sorbonne occurred after confrontations occurred between protesters and police who were circling the university. The chaos forced the university to close.

"Liberate the Sorbonne," students shouted.

In recent weeks, students and unions had been trying to force the government to withdraw the measure. But the government introduced the law hoping the flexibility would give companies incentive to hire young people, with the reassurance they could get rid of the workers whenever they need to.

The employment law was criticized, though, for giving younger workers less job security than older colleagues and weakening France's generous labour protections.

Reducing the high youth unemployment rate -- 20 per cent for people under the age of 26 -- is a top priority for Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. However, the uproar over this employment law has reduced confidence in his government.

Students were unfazed by the police storming. They have said they will continue to occupying the university's buildings until the government withdraws the law.

"It's about our future, and we are determined not to give up," Elisa Penisson, a 21-year-old undergraduate at the Sorbonne, told The Associated Press.

Student protests also occurred in other parts of France. Students picketed the entrances of several of the country's universities. France's central students' union said protests affected 45 of France's 80 universities.

But France's Education Minister Gilles de Robien said those figures were "lies". The education ministry said eight universities were strikebound, while 26 others were also affected.

Several hundred students also protested on the railway tracks in Tours, France, 125 miles southwest of Paris, on Friday. They stopped trains for three hours, according to the France's railway operator.

France's government says the law may start in April.

With files from The Associated Press