Tens of thousands protested across France on Saturday against a clampdown on immigrants, launching a week of action over security policy and pension reform on which President Nicolas Sarkozy has staked his political reputation.
Demonstrators opposed to new measures including repatriation of Roma to eastern Europe waved French flags and placards and chanted slogans including "let's stop repression" and "no to Sarkozy's inhumane policies". Drums rang out and bands played, the atmosphere friendly rather than combative.
Critics see the Roma expulsions as part of a drive by Sarkozy to revive his popularity before 2012 elections and divert attention from painful pension reforms and spending cuts. The President, who says the security measures are needed to combat crime, faces a bigger test on Tuesday when workers hold a nation-wide strike and protests over the pension reforms he says are essential to cut the country's budgetary deficit.
"This weekend's demonstrations will be a first indicator of the country's mood during this turbulent return to work for politicians," the left-leaning Liberation newspaper said in an editorial. Saturday's protests also targeted the revocation of French nationality for immigrants found guilty of attacking police officers.
A column of thousands representing human rights groups, left-wing political parties and unions marched in bright sunshine through central Paris, led by Roma. Paris police estimated the turn-out at 12,000. Tens of thousands rallied in Marseilles, Lyons, Bordeaux and some 130 other towns and cities in France. One protester in Marseilles sported a T-shirt emblazoned with Sarkozy's face and the slogan "expellable in 2012".
"It seems important that there are many of us calmly saying that the future of this country is not a return to the old hatreds and racist prejudices," Jean-Pierre Dubois, president of France's Human Rights League told Reuters TV. Sarkozy's security policy, especially on Roma, has drawn criticism outside France too and demonstrations were due to take place outside French embassies in other European capitals.
Jean-Louis Tetrel, 62, a high school principal who described himself as a "basic Socialist militant", commented: "There is a feeling of deepening rage against the government which is rather new, which has been growing in the past few months...Things are really boiling over now." Sarkozy said on Friday he was determined to stand by his pension reforms, which among other things will raise the retirement age to 62 from 60.
Unions say everything from schools and public transport to telecommunications will be disrupted in Tuesday's strike. The National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, begins debating the pension reforms that day. Several unions, including at state railways, are calling for a 24-hour shutdown from 8pm (1800 GMT) on September 6 over the pension reform plans. Air France said on Friday that the strike would affect operations.
It said it expected to operate all long-haul flights, 90 percent of its short- and medium-haul flights from Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport and half of its short- and medium-haul flights from the city's Orly airport. The government unveiled plans in June to overhaul the pay-as-you-go pensions system and clean up state finances, warning that without major changes the system would run up annual deficits of 50 billion euros by 2020. "I will not be the president of the Republic who leaves without having balanced the pension system," Sarkozy told factory workers on Friday. "I am extremely determined."