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France forces through labour bill amid new protests

France's controversial new labour laws look set to be pushed through parliament today without a vote, as demonstrators get ready to protest once again.

France forces through labour bill amid new protests
French PM Manuel Valls was unrepentant after forcing the unpopular labour reforms through parliament. Photo: AFP
French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on Tuesday invoked a constitutional measure to force through contested labour laws,
bypassing parliament.
 
“This country is too used to mass unemployment,” Valls told parliament, saying he was acting in the “general interest” of the French people. “It is not posturing, it's not intransigence,” he said
 
MPs have 24 hours to decide whether to call a vote of no confidence in Valls' government, which the right-wing opposition has already ruled out.
 
The highly expected move, needed because the government cannot count on enough support for the bill in parliament, came amid renewed protests across the country.
 
The government's unpopular use of the 49:3 article when the bill was first presented to the National Assembly gave protests a new lease of life.
 
In what was the 12th day of protest over the hugely controversial labour laws, unions called for demonstrations across France's big cities on Tuesday. 
 
In Paris, demonstrators marched between Place d'Italie and Bastille amid a high police presence. Official police estimates put the number of protesters at around 7,000, although unions said the turn out was 45,000. Either way it reflects a significant fall in the number of demonstrators.
 
Unions are hoping that their march will force amendments or a withdrawal of the bill, although both President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls had already made it clear that they are done with negotiations. 
 
The union heads have said that Tuesday's protest will be the last of the summer, but have vowed to return to the streets in September. 
 
Photo: AFP
 
The marches came on the same day the bill returned to the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, after being discussed by the Senate.
 
Lawmakers in the lower house had until Friday to discuss the many amendments to the bill added by senators, most of which are expected to be scrapped as they were not backed by the government.
 
But as expected the under-fire Socialist government used what's known as article 49-3 to push through the labour reforms through the National Assembly without the usual vote.
 
The constitutional manoeuvre was seen as the only way to get the bill through, because even though the lower house is dominated by Socialists, the left flank of the party is staunchly opposed to the labour reforms and would have voted to block them. 
 
 
The 49-3 article was also used controversially last year to push through a law that liberalised some economic activities, including the extension of Sunday trading hours.
 
According to an opinion poll published last week, 73 percent of the French would be “shocked” if the government circumvented a vote on Tuesday. 
 
President Francois Hollande said last week that his Socialist government would “go all the way” to enact the reforms, which are seen by critics as too pro-business and a threat to cherished workers' rights.
 
The bill, which is aimed at reining in unemployment by freeing up the job market, essentially makes it easier to hire and fire workers in France.
 
The head of the CGT worker's union Philippe Martinez. Photo: AFP
 
Prime Minister Manuel Valls has already signalled he is not open to further modifying the text, but met with union heads last week. 
 
Unions say the main sticking point is a measure giving precedence to agreements negotiated between companies and their staff over deals reached with unions across entire industrial sectors — notably on working hours.
 
Hollande, who faces a re-election bid next April, had hoped for a signature reform to reverse his dire approval ratings.
 
But pressure from the street, as well as parliament's back benches, caused the government to water down the proposals, which only angered bosses while failing to assuage critics.
 

The bill, which is aimed at reining in unemployment by freeing up the job market, essentially makes it easier to hire and fire workers in France.

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PROTESTS

Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

The chairwoman of the Police Association West Region has said that police special tactics, known as Särskild polistaktik or SPT, should be available across Sweden, to use in demonstrations similar to those during the Easter weekend.

Calls for special police tactics to be available across Sweden

SPT, (Särskild polistaktik), is a tactic where the police work with communication rather than physical measures to reduce the risk of conflicts during events like demonstrations.

Tactics include knowledge about how social movements function and how crowds act, as well as understanding how individuals and groups act in a given situation. Police may attempt to engage in collaboration and trust building, which they are specially trained to do.

Katharina von Sydow, chairwoman of the Police Association West Region, told Swedish Radio P4 West that the concept should exist throughout the country.

“We have nothing to defend ourselves within 10 to 15 metres. We need tools to stop this type of violent riot without doing too much damage,” she said.

SPT is used in the West region, the South region and in Stockholm, which doesn’t cover all the places where the Easter weekend riots took place.

In the wake of the riots, police unions and the police’s chief safety representative had a meeting with the National Police Chief, Anders Tornberg, and demanded an evaluation of the police’s work. Katharina von Sydow now hopes that the tactics will be introduced everywhere.

“This concept must exist throughout the country”, she said.

During the Easter weekend around 200 people were involved in riots after a planned demonstration by anti-Muslim Danish politician Rasmus Paludan and his party Stram Kurs (Hard Line), that included the burning of the Muslim holy book, the Koran.

Police revealed on Friday that at least 104 officers were injured in counter-demonstrations that they say were hijacked by criminal gangs intent on targeting the police. 

Forty people were arrested and police are continuing to investigate the violent riots for which they admitted they were unprepared. 

Paludan’s application for another demonstration this weekend was rejected by police.

In Norway on Saturday, police used tear gas against several people during a Koran-burning demonstration after hundreds of counter-demonstrators clashed with police in the town of Sandefjord.

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