Far-Right Leader Complains of Witch Hunt Amid Outrage Over Death AP Photos planned
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1) Far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen claimed Tuesday his National Front was the victim of a witch hunt as outrage intensified over the drowning of a Moroccan during a march by front supporters.
2) Across the political spectrum, from mainstream conservatives to the far left, Monday's death was blamed on the anti-immigrant rhetoric favored by Le Pen and his party.
3) Police, citing witnesses, said about 10 skinheads taking part in the 10,000-strong National Front march broke away from the crowd and headed for the banks of the Seine. Three of them reportedly pushed Brahim Bourram, 29, into the river, where he drowned.
4) As of Tuesday afternoon, no arrests had been made.
5) Le Pen said he was the ``victim of a provocation'' aimed at discrediting his party.
6) ``A witch hunt has once again been mounted against this movement at a crossroads in the existence,'' Le Pen told a news conference. He contended that the assailants were ``external elements'' not linked to the National Front, and said organizers of his rally had sought to keep skinheads out of the march.
7) Le Pen said the drowning was ``in no way connected'' with his party's annual homage to Joan of Arc, a march across Paris followed by a rally. The front's supporters were celebrating its record 15 percent showing April 23 in the first round of France's presidential elections.
8) The two finalists in Sunday's runoff _ conservative Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac and Socialist Lionel Jospin _ spent the day resting before their nationally televised debate Tuesday night.
9) But the drowning, and the issue of National Front responsibility, was likely to force its way into the debate.
10) Jospin issued a statement denouncing ``the danger of hateful speech,'' and the Socialist Party called on its supporters to join an anti-racism march in Paris on Wednesday.
11) Moroccan Ambassador Mohamed Berrada condemned the ``climate of intolerance at the origin of such acts'' as the attack on Bourram
12) Jospin led the nine-candidate first round with 23.3 percent of the votes, but Chirac _ second with 20.8 percent _ is favored in the runoff because about 60 percent of the voters supported right-of-center candidates.
13) However, Le Pen _ a bitter enemy of Chirac _ has refused to endorse the conservative, telling supporters Monday that the Paris mayor ``is worse than Jospin.''
14) The statue of Joan of Arc, at the site of Le Pen's rally, was smeared overnight with graffiti against the National Front, likening the party to the Nazi SS.
Nearly 30 Detained In Connection With Moroccan's Death EDS: UPDATES throughout with more arrests, reaction. Adds photo
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1) Police cracked down on Paris-area skinheads Wednesday, detaining 29 people for questioning about the drowning of a Moroccan immigrant pushed into the Seine during a march by thousands of far-right supporters.
2) Police officers made coordinated arrests shortly before daybreak in Paris and the surrounding region, authorities said. There was no immediate word whether any of those in custody would be charged or how long they would be held.
3) The Moroccan, 29-year-old Brahim Bouarram, was accosted by three skinheads Monday during a march through Paris by about 15,000 supporters of the far-right National Front. Bouarram was pushed into the river, and his body later was retrieved by police divers.
4) Witnesses said the assailants, after attacking Bouarram, mingled back into the throng of marchers.
5) National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen said his party, which advocates the deportation of 3 million immigrants, bore no responsibility for the death and blamed police for inadequate security during the march.
6) But politicians from the mainstream right to the far left insisted that the racist and anti-foreigner overtones of National Front rhetoric played a role in the incident.
7) Leftist political parties, trade unions and anti-racism groups were organizing a march Wednesday evening in Paris to protest the death. The frontrunner in Sunday's presidential runoff, conservative Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac, planned to send a delegation from his campaign to the march.
8) Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, sponsor of controversial 1993 laws cracking down on illegal immigration, said through a spokesman that the death of Bouarram was ``unworthy of a democracy like ours''
9) ``All men and women on French soil, whatever their skin color or religion, have the right to live in complete safety,'' the statement said. ``The combat against racism must transcend political parties. It is not a combat of the left or the right.''
10) Le Pen, whose party won a record 15 percent of the vote in first-round presidential voting April 23, told his followers Monday he could not recommend a vote in the runoff either for Chirac or Socialist Lionel Jospin.
Le Pen calls for president to resign if majority loses elections Eds: UPDATES with more of Le Pen's speech, commemoration of
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1) France's far-right leader said Thursday that President Jacques Chirac should follow the example of Charles de Gaulle and resign if his conservative majority loses legislative elections.
2) Jean-Marie Le Pen spoke at his National Front party's traditional May Day march used by the far-right to honor Joan of Arc.
3) An estimated 8,000 people attended the peaceful march from Chatelet, near City Hall, to the Garnier Opera house, according to police.
4) Two years ago, a Moroccan was drowned in the Seine River by skin heads who latched on to the National Front's May Day march. The party wants to expel immigrants, claiming they are at the root of France's economic and social ills.
5) Marchers, waving flags and banners, threw flowers at the foot of the gilded statue of Jean of Arc, the party's patron saint, as they passed by on the rue de Rivoli.
6) Le Pen, a fiery orator, derided Chirac in a nearly 90-minute speech in front of the ornate opera house in the center of Paris.
7) ``You have been the artisan of anti-social, anti-family and anti-moral policies,'' Le Pen said. With his decision to dissolve the National Assembly, Chirac was seeking a ``blank check'' for his policies, Le Pen claimed. ``That, sir, never.''
8) ``If Chirac's candidates have less than a majority, then they should leave, as Charles de Gaulle did with dignity in 1969,'' Le Pen said.
9) His remarks came a day after Le Pen's announcement that he would not take part in legislative elections because he was saving himself for an eventual candidacy for the presidency. Le Pen, whose anti-immigration party is often accused of being racist, polled 15 percent in 1995 presidential elections.
10) Le Pen's party, however, is fielding its largest number of candidates ever in a bid to win parliamentary seats. He predicted Wednesday his party would win ``between zero and 20 seats.'' Polls show it could win one or two.
11) Meanwhile, across the Seine, on the Carousel bridge a small ceremony was held in the memory of a young Moroccan drowned in 1995 by skin heads on the coat tails of Le Pen's parade. Le Pen contended the skin heads had no connection to his party's demonstration.
12) The early parliamentary, 6th graf pvs
Protests against far-right candidate continue throughout France Eds: RECASTS lede, graf 6 to show up to 200,000 demonstrators
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1) At least 200,000 protesters, including many young people, marched through Paris and other French cities on Saturday in a continuing show of anger at far-right presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen's surprise success in the primary election.
2) In the capital, protesters chanted ``Down with the National Front'' _ Le Pen's nationalist, anti-immigration party. Some beat on drums as they headed toward the site of the former Bastille prison. One protester held up a sign that read, simply, ``I'm ashamed.''
3) France-Info radio put the number of demonstrators throughout France at more than 200,000. A protest in Alpine Grenoble drew 20,000, police said, while 15,000 gathered in the Mediterranean port city of Marseille. Some 45,000 people marched in Paris, police said.
4) Protesters have taken to the streets every day for a week, since voters, stunned, learned that Le Pen would face incumbent President Jacques Chirac in the May 5 runoff. The culmination is expected to come Wednesday, when Le Pen's supporters and foes hold rival demonstrations.
5) Meeting with young National Front members on Saturday, Le Pen warned them to be careful during the annual May Day march in Paris, which honors Joan of Arc, his party's heroine.
6) ``It's very likely people will try to provoke us,'' Le Pen told 100 young people at his headquarters outside Paris, asking them to be ``extremely vigilant.''
7) About 60 organizations called Saturday's demonstrations, including the Communist Party, the League for Human Rights, the CGT union and high school associations.
8) High schoolers and university students have been very active in the week's protests. Tarik Fadili, 17, marched in the capital alongside other students.
9) ``We immigrants are afraid,'' said Fadili, who came to France from Morocco at age six. ``For Le Pen to be in the second round means that a good part of France thinks the same as he does. It makes me sick.''
10) At the head of the Paris demonstration was a group of about 1,000 immigrants who have been marching across France since March 23 to demand papers. They cried out, ``I'm here, I'm staying, I won't leave.''
11) Some 2,000 police were deployed in the French capital alone, as officials feared there could be sporadic violence. The demonstration was calm, however, with many children marching alongside their parents.
12) ``We want a France where we can live freely,'' said Sylvie Wolf, a nurse, who pushed a buggy with her 4-year-old child inside.
13) Some French celebrities joined the protest, including actresses Isabelle Adjani and Charlotte Gainsbourg. Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, a Socialist, also took part.
14) The first protests against Le Pen erupted spontaneously on April 21, just hours after results of the first round showed the far-right leader had come in second after Chirac. For months, polls had forecast that the two top candidates would be conservative Chirac and the Socialist Prime Minister, Lionel Jospin.
15) The night of the first round, a few violent incidents broke out, with protesters smashing shop windows. Police retaliated with tear gas and made several dozen arrests.
16) Of the daily protests, Thursday's was the largest, with more than 300,000 people in the streets across France.
17) If elected, Le Pen says he will try to cut France's ties with the European Union, restore border controls to limit immigration and phase out income taxes. He opposes abortion, supports the death penalty and has often been accused of being anti-Semitic.
18) Most of France's defeated presidential candidates have come out in support of Chirac, and polls have indicated the incumbent leader should get about 80 percent of the final-round vote.
19) Le Pen has told voters not to put faith in the polls.
20) ``Thirty percent of the vote on May 5 would be a bitter defeat for me,'' Le Pen was quoted as saying in Le Monde newspaper's weekend edition. ``I'm fighting for more than that. I'm targeting between 40 and 51 percent, and preferably 51 percent.''
France braces for May Day street protests against Le Pen amid fears
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1) France braced for a likely unprecedented wave of street protests against extreme-right presidential candidate Jean-Marie Le Pen during Wednesday's traditional May Day march, while his rival in the voting, incumbent President Jacques Chirac, called for calm.
2) Organizers of five Paris marches, from unions to human rights groups, predicted that several hundred thousand people could be in the capital's streets in what police have called a high risk day. Marches were planned in some 70 cities around France.
3) ``In a democracy, political action doesn't take place in the streets,'' Chirac, a conservative, said in an interview Tuesday on RTL radio. ``It takes place in the ballot box.'' He called on demonstrators to be ``extremely vigilant, extremely responsible.''
4) France returns to the polls on Sunday for the runoff vote between Chirac, a conservative and Le Pen, who stunned the country by qualifying for the final vote in the April 21 first round. Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin was pushed out of the running.
5) Le Pen was leading supporters in his National Front party's traditional May Day march that in the past has drawn jack-booted skinheads and led to violence.
6) The death of a young Moroccan, drowned in the Seine during the National Front's May Day march in 1995, resurfaced. Three human rights and anti-racist groups dedicated their march Wednesday to the memory of Brahim Bouarram, pushed into the river by skinheads following the National Front march.
7) Some 3,500 security forces, from riot police to plain clothes officers, were being deployed in Paris along with two helicopters, police officials said.
8) ``Nothing would be worse in the current situation, and worse, notably, for the ideas the demonstrators want to defend, than excesses that lead to violence and confrontation,'' Chirac said.
9) Le Pen has been convicted of racism and anti-Semitism numerous times. He blames immigration, particularly from Muslim North Africa, for unemployment _ that edged up in March to 9.1 percent _ and for rising crime.
10) Le Pen, who sees himself as the defender of France's identity in a globalized world, wants to pull France out of the European Union and return to the franc, the currency abandoned in favor of the euro.
11) ``I'm just the thermometer of the political malady of France,'' Le Pen said in an interview on RMC-Info radio Tuesday.
12) German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cautioned the European Commission on Monday night against moving too quickly with change. He suggested this could create a backlash and play into the hands of the extreme-right.
13) ``I have made clear that we need to have this discussion,'' Schroeder said after a dinner in Brussels with EC President Romano Prodi.
14) Schroeder, facing his own election in September, has complained recently that several EU policy initiatives amount to undue interference in national affairs.
15) In France, the Wednesday demonstrations culminate a series of almost daily anti-Le Pen protests. Tens of thousands of high school students cut classes to demonstrate Monday.
16) ``Let's March'' read the banner headline Tuesday in the leftist daily Liberation. ``May 1 for History,'' read the headline in France Soir.
17) Numerous political parties, artists and sports figures have called for a vote for Chirac to block Le Pen on Sunday. The Academy of Sciences announced Tuesday it was supporting Chirac, saying research needs ``total freedom of thought.''
18) Chirac himself made a personal appeal on Tuesday to the left on his behalf.
19) ``Today, it is a question of defending the values of the (French) Republic,'' Chirac said in the radio interview.
20) ``What I ask of this leftist voter is to follow his convictions and block the extreme-right. That is what is essential today.''
URGENT PARIS: around France.
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1) A massive anti-Le Pen demonstration was getting under way in Paris Wednesday afternoon. Already, in other French cities, demonstrations against the fiercely anti-immigrant leader were drawing tens of thousands. More than 50,000 people gathered in the eastern city of Grenoble, while 45,000 demonstrated in Bordeaux, police said. Some of the protests were combined with traditional May Day labor protests by unions.
2) Maurice Dumontot, a 58-year-old retired police brigadier among the Paris pro-Le Pen marchers, called Le Pen ``the Joan of Arc of modern times.''
3) ``Le Pen is the unloved candidate, but he's our only chance to put things in order to stop all the crime and have people respect our laws,'' he said.
4) A few people showed their anger at Le Pen's parade. One family, standing on a balcony above the marchers, hung out a banner that read, simply, ``No.''
5) In a radio interview before the march, Le Pen said he had taken ``all possible precautions'' to ensure his own safety and said he'd asked his security officers to eject any neo-Nazi supporters who might try to join in. There were, however, right-wing skinheads seen marching in the parade.
6) Riot police trailed the demonstrators, and security was tight. Some 3,500 police, from riot police to plainclothes officers, were being deployed in Paris alone.
7) Since Le Pen's surprise success in the April 21 first round, the nationalist leader has complained he has been a ``victim of a campaign of hate and lies.'' His daughter, also a National Front politician, said the march was the ``proper response'' to the wave of anti-Le Pen street protests that have swept France.
8) ``The problem is not the demonstrations, it's the defamation, the slander and the insults that people shout,'' Marine Le Pen told The Associated Press. ``It's shameful and scandalous.''
9) On a bridge over the Seine, about 1,000 people honored the memory of a Moroccan man who was drowned by National Front supporters during a rally on May 1, 1995. A group of skinheads at the rally pushed the man, Brahim Bouarram, off the bridge.
10) Le Pen has been convicted of racism and anti-Semitism numerous times. He blames immigration, particularly from Muslim North Africa, for unemployment _ which edged up in March to 9.1 percent _ and for rising crime. His success in the April 21 first round of elections stunned France and most of its allies and neighbors.
11) The far-right leader wants to pull France out of the European Union and return to the franc, the currency abandoned in favor of the euro at the start of this year, as well as deport all illegal immigrants and tighten border controls.
French unions opposed to pension reform threaten strikes
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1) Several of France's powerful trade unions, unhappy with government proposals to reform the retirement system, on Friday threatened strikes to press a change of course.
2) In a sign of the deteriorating climate, France's most business-friendly union, the CFDT, which in principle agrees on the need for reform, changed its tone and called on workers to mobilize.
3) CFDT chief Francois Chereque said he was disappointed by the government's ``hazy'' proposals after talks Friday with Social Affairs Minister Francois Fillon.
4) ``Until we are given precise answers and figures, the CFDT cannot back the reforms,'' he said.
5) The head of the influential Workers' Force, Marc Blondel, warned the government was intent on ``the destruction of the retirement system'' and urged a general strike.
6) Blondel said he plans to meet with other union leaders to organize ``the largest possible collective reaction, which I believe must be centered on a strike.''
7) A massive public sector walkout earlier this month over reforming the retirement system brought much of France to a halt, hobbling air traffic and stranding Paris commuters. The CFDT did not participate in the April 3 action, but said Friday it would talk with other unions to organize a ``day of action.''
8) Hundreds of thousands of civil servants _ from air traffic controllers, post office and museum employees to subway car drivers and teachers _ stayed off the job April 3.
9) The retirement system needs a drastic overhaul to cope with a growing population of retirees who are also living longer. Reforming the system is one of the main challenges facing the center-right government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He has said reforms would be ready by summer vacation.
10) One bone of contention centers on the government's efforts to bring retirement programs for private sector employees and civil servants in line.
11) The government has indicated that it wants public sector employees, who generally must work 37.5 years to qualify for full retirement benefits, to work 40 years, like private sector counterparts, to get full retirement.
12) (parf-kh-eg)
Unions agree to day of strikes, demonstrations on May 13 to protest retirement reform
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1) French unions buried differences on Wednesday and joined in calling for a day of strikes and demonstrations on May 13 to press the government to ``modify its choices'' in reforming the retirement system.
2) The unions called on both public and private sector workers to take part in the one-day strike.
3) The joint call to action could prove an ominous signal for center-right Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin as he approaches a year in office.
4) Raffarin has said he is determined to reform the retirement system before it buckles, and has said the measures would be ready by summer vacation.
5) Unions by and large agree that the overloaded system needs to be modified to cope, but reject the government's approach.
6) The decision to strike and march on May 13 came at a meeting of some half-dozen unions and followed a round of talks with the government over reforming the pension plan.
7) Government measures ``are dictated exclusively by the wish to reduce ... expenses,'' a joint statement by the unions said, adding that unions are ``convinced that only the intervention of all salaried workers can (force) the government to modify its choices.''
8) The statement noted that May 1, the traditional Labor Day, also provides an opportunity to demonstrate discontent.
9) Marc Blondel, leader of the Workers' Force union, said he hoped for a ``frank'' and ``tough'' showing from workers.
10) Even the business-friendly CFDT union has joined in the protest call, criticizing the government's ``hazy'' proposals that lack precise figures.
11) The retirement system needs a drastic overhaul to avoid collapse in 20 years. The overburdened system must cope with a growing population of retirees who are also living longer.
12) One bone of contention is the opposition of public sector workers to increasing the number of years they must contribute to the retirement pot from 37.5 to 40, like the private sector.
13) A massive public sector walkout earlier this month over pension reform brought much of France to a halt, hobbling air traffic and stranding Paris commuters.
14) In 1995, protests over pension reforms effectively shut the country down and helped push then-Prime Minister Alain Juppe, a conservative, from office.
15) (parf-eg)
French government plans to push ahead with pension reform
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1) Despite opposition from unions, France's government said Thursday it will push ahead with plans to make employees work longer before they qualify for full pensions.
2) Francois Fillon, the social affairs minister, said that under proposed reforms, all French employees will by 2012 have to work for 41 years to qualify for full retirement benefits.
3) By 2020, they will have to work for nearly 42 years, he said.
4) The government had already indicated that it wants public sector employees, who generally must work 37.5 years to qualify for full retirement benefits, to work for 40 years, like their private sector counterparts.
5) Fillon said the government wants all employees to work 40 years by 2008.
6) ``The choice we have made is to maintain the highest level of pensions possible,'' Fillon said in an interview on France 2 television. For that, ``we have chosen to extend the length of contributions.''
7) Unions by and large agree that France's overloaded pension system needs reforming but reject the government's approach.
8) Unions this week called for a day of strikes and demonstrations on May 13 to press the government to modify its pension reforms.
9) The retirement system needs overhauling to pay for a growing population of retirees who also are living longer.
10) Reforming the system is one of the main challenges facing the center-right government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin. He has said reforms would be ready by summer vacation.
11) (parf-jl)
Government stirs anger, strike calls with pension reform plans
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1) The bad news was splashed across newspaper front pages: By 2020, the French could have to work for nearly five years longer to qualify for full pensions.
2) The declaration by Social Affairs Minister Francois Fillon prompted calls for massive strikes and grumblings from politicians and the French press on Friday. But the leading business federation welcomed the proposed reforms to France's overburdened retirement system.
3) ``Fillon sells his potion,'' declared the left-leaning Liberation's front page. ``This time, Fillon said everything,'' added Le Parisien, calling Fillon's plans a ``bitter draft.''
4) The minister said in a television interview Thursday night that to get full retirement benefits, all French employees would have to work for 40 years by 2008, for 41 years by 2012 and for nearly 42 years by 2020.
5) Currently, public sector workers generally must contribute to the retirement pot for 37.5 years and those in the private sector for 40 years to qualify for full pensions.
6) The government argues that without extra financial contributions from workers, the retirement system could collapse because the number of retirees is growing and they are living longer. It says that these demographic forces will lead to a 50 billion euro (US$54 billion) gap in financing of the pension system by 2020.
7) Fillon said the system would be in the red within two or three years. He likened the problem to ``disarming a bomb that threatens future generations.''
8) ``Once we are running deficits, the whole system ... will explode. We will no longer be able to save it,'' he said on France-2 television.
9) Unions responded by repeating calls for strikes May 13 _ and beyond if necessary _ to protest the government's approach.
10) ``There's going to be a reaction from both the public and private sectors,'' Marc Blondel, leader of the Workers' Force union, said Friday.
11) Four of the five teachers unions on Friday backed the May 13 strike call. Train workers' unions also plan a nationwide strike that day, said William La Rocca, head of the FGAAC union.
12) Even the business-friendly CFDT union backed a walkout, ``not to oppose reform but to pressure the government to improve on its proposals,'' said Francois Chereque, the CFDT's secretary general.
13) Bernard Thibault of the Communist Party-linked CGT union denounced ``the abandonment, pure and simple, of the right to go into retirement at age 60.''
14) Opposition lawmaker Noel Mamere said he was ``shocked'' by the plan to make employees work longer.
15) ``By making them labor to age 65, we're squeezing the juice out of those who have already worked,'' he said on Europe-1 radio.
16) He said the government should work instead to bring down France's nearly 10 percent unemployment rate.
17) ``That would be more useful for the country than wanting to make people work longer,'' Mamere said.
18) A massive public sector walkout earlier this month over pension reform brought much of France to a halt, hobbling air traffic and stranding Paris commuters.
19) In 1995, protests over pension reforms effectively shut down the country and helped push then-Prime Minister Alain Juppe, a conservative, from office.
20) (pvs-jl-kh)
French unions and far-right host separate May Day marches
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1) Tens of thousands of workers marched across France on Thursday to celebrate May Day and protest a government overhaul of the pension system, while the extreme right held its own small parade in Paris.
2) Workers and trade unionists took to the streets in cities from Paris to Strasbourg near the German border to the southern port of Marseille.
3) Marches were dominated by protests over the center-right government's planned retirement reform _ an issue that already sparked a massive public sector walkout last month, hobbling air traffic and stranding Paris commuters.
4) The government argues that without extra financial contributions from workers, the retirement system could collapse because the number of retirees is growing and people are living longer. It says these demographic forces will lead to a 50 billion euro (US$54 billion) gap in pension financing by 2020.
5) As things stand, public sector workers generally must contribute to the retirement pot for 37.5 years, and those in the private sector for 40 years, to qualify for full pensions.
6) Social Affairs Minister Francois Fillon offered a new proposal that angered unions: To get full retirement benefits, all French employees would have to work for 40 years by 2008, for 41 years by 2012 and for nearly 42 years by 2020.
7) Unions agree on the need for reform, but many say people should have the right to retire at age 60 _ impossible for many workers under the new plan. More strikes are planned for May 13.
8) Meanwhile, several hundred supporters of far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen held their traditional May Day commemoration, setting a wreath of flowers below a gilded statue of Joan of Arc, the party symbol.
9) A year ago, Le Pen had a stunning success in first-round presidential elections, knocking then-Prime Minister Lionel Jospin out of the race in late April. The leader of the National Front was resoundingly defeated two weeks later in a runoff vote against incumbent President Jacques Chirac.
10) Le Pen is a staunch opponent of immigration who has been widely accused and even convicted of racism and anti-Semitism.
11) Also on Thursday, Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe unveiled a plaque on a bridge over the Seine River to honor the memory of a Moroccan man who was drowned by National Front supporters during a rally on May 1, 1995.
12) A group of skinheads at the rally pushed the man, Brahim Bouarram, off the bridge.
13) (parf-ad)
French teachers to strike Tuesday
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1) Teachers planned strikes and demonstrations throughout France on Tuesday to protest government plans to streamline the education system and reform pension plans.
2) The protest called by five major unions is to be the fifth national action day since the school year started. Unions were promising heavy turnout, and demonstrations were planned in cities from Caen, in the northwest region of Normandy, down to Nice on the Mediterranean coast.
3) In Paris, teachers were planning an afternoon march to the Education Ministry. In some areas, the strikes could continue beyond Tuesday.
4) A plan by the center-right government of Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to reform the education system is one of several measures that have unleashed a wave of social unrest.
5) For months, teachers and others have been protesting budget cutbacks that will affect education support staff.
6) Raffarin wants to combine the responsibilities of school aides who supervise out-of-class activities with those of youths who help out teachers, reducing their ranks by thousands. He also wants to transfer many supporting staff members to other schools as part of a wider plan to decentralize the administration.
7) Other major reform plans _ downsizing the pensions and state security systems _ are also bitterly opposed by unions.
8) The center-right government argues that without extra financial contributions from workers, the retirement system could collapse because the number of retirees is growing and people are living longer.
9) Social Affairs Minister Francois Fillon has proposed that employees spend more years on the job to qualify for full retirement benefits.
10) The issue already sparked a massive public sector walkout last month, shutting down air traffic and stranding Paris commuters.
11) Another major strike on pension reform is planned for May 13 and is expected to draw a range of public sector workers, from teachers and air traffic controllers to public transport workers.
12) (parf-ad-jg)
French premier defends pension reform ahead of strikes
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1) France's prime minister took out full-page ads in national newspapers Wednesday to defend his hotly contested pension reforms, apparently hoping to sap the strength of strikes against the plans.
2) Without reform, French retirees' pensions will be cut by half in less than 20 years and the retirement system ``founded on solidarity between different generations will be doomed,'' Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin wrote.
3) He said his reform plans ``will save our pension system.''
4) Trade unions, arguably the government's main political opponents while the opposition Socialist Party remains in disarray, have called massive strikes for next Tuesday to protest the reforms.
5) Raffarin did not mention the strikes in his newspaper ad. But he said pension reform is supported by ``a large majority of the French'' and that ``a shared effort'' is needed to rescue the system.
6) In 1995, protests over pension reforms effectively shut down the country and helped push then-Prime Minister Alain Juppe, a conservative, from office.
7) Raffarin's statement argued that France's pension system, which is financed by contributions from workers, is becoming overburdened by a growing imbalance between the numbers of retirees and workers.
8) In 1960, four workers financed one retiree's pension. By 2000, that had fallen to two workers per retiree and by 2020, one worker will be financing one retiree, the prime minister wrote.
9) ``Conceived more than 50 years ago, our retirement system no longer corresponds to the demographic reality,'' Raffarin wrote.
10) His Cabinet was meeting Wednesday to discuss the pension plans.
11) Raffarin said parliament would debate the reforms in June, allowing them to pass into law before the summer vacation.
12) The government's plans include making French employees work longer before they qualify for full pensions, which will boost their contributions to the retirement system.
13) Currently, public sector workers generally must contribute to the retirement pot for 37.5 years and those in the private sector for 40 years to qualify for full pensions.
14) Under the reform, the government says it plans to make public and private employees work for 40 years by 2008, for 41 years by 2012 and for nearly 42 years by 2020.
15) The government says that without extra financial contributions from workers, the retirement system could collapse because the number of retirees is growing and they are living longer. It says these demographic forces will leave a 50 billion euro (US$57 billion) gap in financing by 2020.
16) (jl-jg)
French public sector employees intensify strike over pension reform
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1) A larger-scale French public sector strike on Tuesday is expected to cause more delays and cancelations for travelers and commuters who already faced a week of disruptions.
2) While some train and public transport workers have stayed off the job since June 4 to protest a government overhaul of the pension system, unions were to intensify the effort Tuesday _ the day parliament starts debating the reforms.
3) Some air traffic controllers also promised to join the walkout. On Monday, the extent of airline disruptions was still unclear.
4) National carrier Air France said it was maintaining its schedule but said there were ``risks of disruptions'' for short- and medium-haul flights _ generally, service within Europe.
5) The SNCF rail authority said one train out of three would run Tuesday in most regions. Paris subway and bus workers were to intensify their movement, slowing down service, while public transport strikes were also expected in cities including Marseille, Toulouse and Bordeaux.
6) For months, French public sector employees have been pressuring the government to abandon a pension reform plan that officials say is needed to save the system from collapse.
7) Transport workers, led by the Communist-linked CGT, will be joined Tuesday by teachers, postal workers and other state employees. Garbage workers have also been striking in some cities, including Paris, leaving trash in piles on the sidewalk.
8) Some private sector employees were expected to take part, including bank workers and metalworkers. Protest marches were planned in cities from Paris to Bordeaux in the southwestern wine country to the northwest port city of Brest.
9) Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin is expected to open the debate on pension reform at the National Assembly.
10) The center-right government's plan would increase the number of years public sector employees must work to receive full retirement benefits from 37.5 years to 40 years. The change would bring them in line with the private sector.
11) Transport workers would not be affected by the change, but they have led the strikes, claiming that the reform plan is just the beginning of a process that would gut France's pension system.
12) While opposing the retirement plan, teachers are also protesting a plan to decentralize the education system. High school seniors across France have been awaiting word on whether the strikes would cancel their crucial end-of-the-year exams.
13) Education Minister Luc Ferry and other Cabinet members were to gather teachers' unions for a round table Tuesday.
14) (parf-ad)
May Day marches in Paris draw thousands, as Le Pen rails against EU enlargement
(APW_ENG_20040501.0300)
1) Anti-immigrant nationalist Jean-Marie Le Pen used his traditional May Day rally Saturday to criticize the European Union's expansion, while thousands of workers celebrated the day with more than 250 peaceful demonstrations across France.
2) The leader of France's far-right National Front party dismissed the historic day of EU enlargement _ celebrated Saturday by EU leaders in Dublin _ as a mistake. He said western Europe had nothing to gain from taking in 10 new members from the east.
3) ``Was it wise to go so fast and to want to elevate their standard of living while lowering ours?'' Le Pen told a crowd of 3,000 that attended his Paris rally. ``Will it make us stronger, richer, happier? I think not.''
4) Delivering a strong anti-immigrant message, Le Pen used the speech to launch his campaign for European parliamentary elections in June. Calling on voters to hand him a ``brilliant victory,'' he said his slogan would be ``Europe? Why bother with it?''
5) Le Pen, who has been convicted of racism and anti-Semitism at least six times, stunned France by qualifying for a second-round faceoff with French President Jacques Chirac in the presidential race in 2002.
6) On May Day in 1995, skinheads on the sidelines of a National Front rally drowned a Moroccan man in the Seine River. On Saturday, the French human rights group MRAP held a ceremony for the victim, Brahim Bouarram, who was pushed off a bridge.
7) Meanwhile, May Day demonstrations took place around France, with the largest in Paris drawing 14,000 people, police said. Union organizers said 50,000 showed up.
8) A separate, smaller Paris rally led by the Christian CFTC trade union paid tribute to the EU's enlargement. The march, which drew about 1,500 people, was devoted to the theme of European social cohesion, with banners that read: ``Place man at the heart of Europe.''
9) The workers' holiday was dominated by concerns over high unemployment rates and reforms planned by the conservative government to France's indebted health insurance system. Among those who marched were members of France's show business community, the state-run electrical and gas utilities, researchers and teachers _ all of whom have protested in past months against planned reforms that affect their professions.
10) Some 4,000 people marched in the southern cities of Toulouse and Marseille, with a similar turnout in central Lyon. Smaller rallies were held around the country.
11) (parf-jg)