"When you cannot organise a demo and take responsibility, leaving
thugs in the middle of the march ... then you don't organise this sort
of demonstration that can degenerate," Valls said on France Inter radio.
French PM urges hardline union to halt anti-reform rallies in Paris
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Wednesday urged the hardline CGT union to stop organising mass rallies in Paris against a contested labour reform after fresh clashes between masked youths and riot police at a demo.
On
the sidelines of a CGT-led march on Tuesday, gangs of black-clad youths
hurled makeshift firebombs at police and broke windows, including at
Paris' main children's hospital.
"When you
cannot organise a demo and take responsibility, leaving thugs in the
middle of the march ... then you don't organise this sort of
demonstration that can degenerate," Valls said on France Inter radio.
Police
fired dozens of rounds of teargas and used water cannons to disperse
the groups of youths during the rally, which police said had a turnout
of 75,000-80,000 in Paris alone, roughly three times more than at recent
big demos.
The Paris police department reported 58 arrests, including many foreigners, with 24 police and 17 protesters injured.
"We
cannot have a general ban (on demos), but we will take our
responsibilities. We can no longer have this disgraceful show with
things getting out of control," Valls said before visiting the Necker children's hospitable to inspect the damage.
Despite
the latest violence, Valls repeated his refusal to back down on the
reform to make hiring and firing easier, saying that the bill had
already been watered down to take into account more moderate unions
views.
Backed by smaller militant unions, the CGT
is battling to be France's top union with the CFDT, which supports the
reform that would also devolve the setting of pay and working conditions
to the company level.
Valls also pledged his
support for the police force after the killing this week of a policeman
and his wife by a Frenchman who pledged allegiance to the militant
Islamist group Islamic State.
The government has called the killing a terrorist attack, and Valls said there would be inevitably be more deaths.
إرسال تعليق