Thousands protest labour reform in Paris

At least 15 people were arrested in Paris on Tuesday at a demonstration against planned changes to labour laws which will make hiring and firing employees easier.

The police said that "several hundred masked individuals" threw object as them during the march. France 24 reported that 11 people have bee injured so far.

The CGT labour union planned for about 700 buses to bring protesters to Paris for the march through the city centre, which the union said will be the biggest show of strength for three months.

Transport strikes started to wane when the Euro 2016 football tournament gave an incentive to CGT to end the protest.

The SNCF, the state-owned railway company, said 90% of high-speed connections were operating and other services were working at 70% and the disruption was less than it was two weeks ago. On Monday 4.5% of employees were still on strike.

CGT, the Communist-found union, and the smaller Force Ouveriere union said the reform will weaken standards of labour protection.

The leader of CGT Philippe Martinez said Francois Hollande’s Socialist government was overlooking public disquiet about the reform which would make hiring and firing easier and devolve setting of pay to company level.

Even with minor unions CTGT is still small in comparison to the much larger CFDT union. CFDT agrees with the government and supports the labour reform saying it would help tackle unemployment of 10% and develop labour representation at grass roots level. In France youth unemployment is about 24%.

Laurent Berger head of the CFDT said: “"It's time to calm things down a bit."

Only 10% of the workforce in France is a member of a union - the lowest in Europe - but unions have significant influence as negotiated labour conditions are applied to everyone working in any sector.

The reform was passed through the lower house of parliament by decree. The protest is to coincide with the examination of the reform law by the senate in the upper house, which has a conservative majority. If passed, it will become law by July.

France 24 reported that Myriam El Khomri, the labour minister is due to meet with Martinez on Friday. She said the law could be tweaked but the fundamentals would stay.

The protest comes at a time when France is simultaneously safeguarding the security of thousands of incoming football fans during Euro 2016 and is on a maximum terror alert due to the terrorist attacks last November which killed 130 people.

Video of the labour reform protest in Paris: