Riots in Pareeee

Speaking of madness.. (in an east London accent) what about this malarkey in France, eh?! is it any surprise to anyone that young French people are protesting the French governments Contrat de première embauche (CPE - or in English, 'First Job Contract') workplace reform? Crowd estimations range from 1.3 to 1.4 million, with up to 400,000 of them in Paris. The Interior Ministry counted 503,000 nationwide, with 80,000 in Paris.

According to reports '...this legislation will allow employers to fire workers under the age of 26 without cause during their first two years of employment. The government has argued that the reform is necessary to reduce France’s youth unemployment rate of 23 percent...'

Clearly young French people do not feel that their government cares about them. Read what the wires reported earlier todayis what the wires reported earlier today:

In the western city of Rennes, students wore plastic garbage bags with signs declaring: "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 forehead. Pointing to painted-on tears, she added: "That‘s depressing, that‘s why I‘m crying."

Organizers, 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 people out marching in the third national protest in six weeks...'

And, it would seem that people are still smarting from the protests in Paris, which exposed to the rest of the world the extent of France's racial divide. The World Socialist Web Site says :

A number of protestors referred to the government’s provocative and authoritarian response to last year’s youth disturbances in the suburbs of Paris. “Who’s the scum?” one banner carried in Le Havre read. “Who are the hooligans? Out, out, with this government.” Students from every strata of French society were represented at the demonstrations, including immigrant and black youth from the suburbs of Paris affected by last year’s riots. The participation of these young people in the anti-CPE movement refuted the Villepin government’s claim that its workplace reforms are designed to assist unemployed youth in impoverished areas.

Apparently there has been some violence too, I wonder if this will get labelled a 'riot' by any of the press... and I wonder what the political implications for the nations politicians will be?