France Still Disrupted by Mass Strikes over Labor Reforms
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - France was disrupted by a third straight day of mass strikes and demonstrations on Thursday, as the Prime Minister called for protesters who torched a police car to face "harsh" punishment.
According to a report by AFP, dozens of flights and trains were cancelled as rail staff and air traffic controllers walked off the job in the latest mass protests against the government's labor market reforms.
Taking an increasingly hard line after two months of demonstrations, Prime Minister Manuel Valls threatened to use force to break up protests which interfered with the operation of ports, refineries and airports.
But he reserved his strongest words for those who attacked a police car in Paris on Wednesday on the sidelines of a rare rally by police officers protesting against "anti-cop hatred."
While a policeman and a policewoman were still inside the car, a small group of masked protesters beat the vehicle with iron bars before hurling in an explosive device, AFP says.
Both officers escaped unharmed.
"The punishment must be harsh. The inquiry has just started, arrests have been made," Valls said.
Five suspects have been arrested over the attack.
Tensions ran high as up to 14,000 people marched in Paris on Thursday, according to police estimates, with masked protesters again seeking confrontation with riot police.
Violence has erupted at several demonstrations in recent weeks -- mostly against the labor reforms forced through parliament by the deeply unpopular government of President Francois Hollande.
Small groups of troublemakers appear to have infiltrated the protests, bent on attacking security forces.
After Wednesday's violence, Paris police chief Michel Cadot slapped bans on another 19 people designated as hardcore activists, forbidding them from joining demonstrations.
And he called on those taking part in the protest marches to physically distance themselves from any violent activists.
Security marshalls appointed by the unions to control the march appeared to have heeded a call from police to leave clubs and batons at home.
Cadot had already issued around 40 orders banning people judged to be troublemakers from attending demonstrations, but some of those orders have been suspended by the courts.
