Strikes rock France as PM urges measures

Paris, France / AFP

France was disrupted by a third straight day of strikes and demonstrations on Thursday as the prime minister called for protesters who torched a police car to face “harsh” punishment.
Rail staff and air traffic controllers downed tools in the latest mass protests against the government’s labour market reforms, causing dozens of flights and trains to be cancelled.
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”.
With a policeman and a policewoman still inside the car, a small group of masked protesters hammered the car with iron bars before hurling in an explosive device, causing it to burst into flames.
The two officers managed to escape unharmed.
Valls said: “The punishment must be harsh. The inquiry has just started, arrests have been made.”
Four suspects were arrested on Wednesday and a fifth was picked up Thursday, sources close to the investigation said.
Paris police chief Michel Cadot said the officers “were in the car when the explosive device was thrown inside” and the account was confirmed by a surveillance video seen by AFP.
Violence has erupted at several demonstrations in recent weeks—mostly against the controversial labour 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.
Valls called on demonstration organisers to prevent troublemakers—known in French as “casseurs”—from mingling with the crowd.