A day after running battles between police and rioters on the streets of Paris, stakes were raised in the struggle over France's contested youth jobs plan on Sunday as union leaders threatened a general strike unless the government backs down.
Union and student leaders gave Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin an ultimatum of Monday afternoon to withdraw his controversial First Employment Contract (CPE), which on Saturday brought out hundreds of thousands of opponents who joined at times violent demonstrations across the country.
The march through the French capital ended in several hours of evening confrontations between riot police and masked gangs, who hurled projectiles, set cars alight and smashed shop windows and telephone booths.
Police fired tear gas and made baton charges to disperse demonstrators at the Place de la Nation in the east of the city, and later in the Latin Quarter used water cannon to break up protesters trying to pull down a metal barrier blocking access to the historic Sorbonne university. Police said they made 167 arrests in the clashes, which were the worst since tensions over the youth jobs contract erupted two weeks ago. A total of 34 police officers and 18 demonstrators were injured, though none seriously.
The disturbances marred a day that was hailed by unions as a major success in their campaign against the CPE, and on Sunday leaders vowed to step up the pressure in the days ahead if the youth jobs contract is not withdrawn.
Campaign organisers were to meet at 5 pm. (1600 GMT) Monday to assess the government's response, with the threat of a fresh escalation via a general strike openly brandished.
"Obviously we have to maintain the mobilisation. For it to work we need an appeal from several unions for an inter-professional strike day," Jean-Claude Mailly of Workers' Force (FO) told Le Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
"Today the prime minister is like a pyromaniac who sets fire to the valley and then retreats to the hilltop to watch," he said.
Bernard Thibault, head of the powerful General Labour Confederation (CGT), said that "if nothing moves we will propose preparing a day of general work stoppages in the coming days. Cwake of last November's riots in high-immigration suburbs - where fewer than one young person in two has a job - it was approved by parliament ten days ago as part of a wider law on equal opportunities. But the centre-right government has been stymied by a growing wave of opposition with unions, students and left-wing parties calling the CPE a charter for employer exploitation and a breach of France's hard-won labour rights.
Repeated street demonstrations have been accompanied by strikes and sit-ins at most of the country's 84 universities. The Sorbonne - centre of the May 1968 uprising - has been the scene of several nights of clashes with police after it was closed by the authorities.
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