Thousands stage Paris 'die-in' to protest asbestos risk

Thousands of people staged a "die-in" in Paris on Saturday over authorities' failure to clear workplaces of asbestos, which can cause fatal respiratory diseases after long exposure. The protesters from all over France lay down in the street outside Sorbonne University in Paris's Latin Quarter to dramatise that asbestos exposure claims 3,000 lives per year, according to organisers.
They had kicked off the march at the Tour Montparnasse, one of the city's few tall buildings, where inspectors have repeatedly found amounts of asbestos dust exceeding allowable levels. "Ten deaths each day, with no one held responsible or found guilty," one poster read; "For criminal proceedings on asbestos" read another in the march that ended at Paris's main courthouse. The National Association of Victims of Asbestos (ANDEVA) called the march, which was headed up by relatives of victims of asbestos exposure, mainly widows holding pictures of their husbands.