2008 Woodie Awards
Police take action against Parisian student
By: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Issue date: 4/9/08 Section: World
PARIS - Police sprayed tear gas yesterday at high-school students lobbing bottles and stones during a protest over teacher job cuts.
Thousands of students marched from Paris' Luxembourg Gardens in a rally that descended into violence for the second time in a week.
Police rounded up some of the several hundred protesters yesterday. The exact number was not immediately clear. Many wore hoods or scarves to hide their faces from police.
Police put the number of demonstrators at 8,500, while organizers said 20,000 people took part.
While most demonstrators marched peacefully, dancing to music and carrying signs like "Teachers, an endangered species," a small group clashed with police. Police were seen tackling unruly demonstrators and striking them with batons.
The students are marching in solidarity with their teachers and in anger at a government cost-saving reform that will cut thousands of teacher jobs in the next school year, part of a broader attempt by President Nicolas Sarkozy to cut costs and bureaucracy.
Demonstrators also fear that Sarkozy's overall reforms will erode the social and labor protections that underpin French society.
Students have called for new demonstrations tomorrow.
Thousands of students marched from Paris' Luxembourg Gardens in a rally that descended into violence for the second time in a week.
Police rounded up some of the several hundred protesters yesterday. The exact number was not immediately clear. Many wore hoods or scarves to hide their faces from police.
Police put the number of demonstrators at 8,500, while organizers said 20,000 people took part.
While most demonstrators marched peacefully, dancing to music and carrying signs like "Teachers, an endangered species," a small group clashed with police. Police were seen tackling unruly demonstrators and striking them with batons.
The students are marching in solidarity with their teachers and in anger at a government cost-saving reform that will cut thousands of teacher jobs in the next school year, part of a broader attempt by President Nicolas Sarkozy to cut costs and bureaucracy.
Demonstrators also fear that Sarkozy's overall reforms will erode the social and labor protections that underpin French society.
Students have called for new demonstrations tomorrow.
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