Paris - The nationwide strikes have interrupted airline, train and bus services, about  two hundred thousand protesters were seen running around the streets across France on Tuesday as the unions joined with students. The strike has taken a serious turn now.

There was a total break in the talks with Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.  The Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy did not lose heart and courage and suggested that the measures should be suspended to enable the unions to come forward for further talks.

"We have to defend the rights that were won by our ancestors and which the current government is trying to take away," said Maxime Ourly, a literature student who joined tens of thousands protesting on Paris' Left Bank.

Even with huge marches under way, Villepin held firm. He told parliament that he was open to talks on employment and possible changes to the law but did not say that he would withdraw it.

Villepin says the greater flexibility will encourage companies to hire young workers, who face a 22 percent unemployment rate - the highest in Western Europe. But as protests have grown, his government - and chances of running for the presidency next year - have appeared increasingly fragile.
 
Villepin's sputtering effort at reform underscores the dilemma facing many countries in Europe that have lush jobs protections and social safety nets under threat by competition from fast-rising Asian economies with cheaper labor and fewer workplace protections.

Protesters in Paris said they wanted to defend the status quo.

Full Story: http://www.leadingthecharge.com/stories/news-00165625.html

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