Rioters Clash With Police in Paris

Riot police Thursday fired rubber pellets and tear gas at youths who threw stones and torched cars in the heart of Paris, a violent turn in nationwide protests against a new labor law that brought a quarter of a million people onto France’s streets.

Police and rioters waged a back-and-forth battle amid clouds of tear gas outside the Sorbonne University on the Left Bank. Several hundred youths threw firebombs, chunks of pavement, crowd-control barriers and tables and chairs from cafes. Five cars were overturned, and several were torched.

Paris police said they had taken 150 people into custody, and 35 officers were injured.

In all, police said, about 247,000 protesters participated in nearly 200 marches across the country, posing a major test for Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and his ideas for revitalizing France.

Anger focuses on a new rule championed by De Villepin that will allow employers to hire young workers for a two-year trial period and fire them during that time without giving a reason.

The government says the flexibility will encourage companies to hire thousands of youths, bringing down an unemployment rate running 23% among young adults and about double that in some of the depressed suburbs shaken by weeks of rioting last fall.

Students fear the measure will erode labor protections.