Discontent French protest on growing job losses

PARIS - Thousands of French people marched in nationawide demontrations through France's main cities on Tuesday to protest against rising job cuts in the country where the jobless hit a 13-year record.

In the first street rallies since the Socialist President Francois Hollande took power in May, some 25,000 protestors gathered in Paris "to say no to austerity" and called for "the development of the industry, of employment and its social content," according to France's main labor union CGT.

Labour union employees hold flags and banners as they take part in a demonstration for the defence of employment and industry in Paris Oct 9, 2012. The CGT, France's biggest trade union, has called for a national day of protest against job cuts and plant closures. [Photo/Agencies]

Thousands of people marched also in Lyon, the southern city of Marseille, in Toulouse and Bordeau, according to union estimates.

Figures of labor unions showed that 90,000 demonstrators participated in the protests across the country while the Interior Ministry counted just 11,000.

Early in the day, French riot police used teargas to disperse protesters outside the Paris auto show after around 1,000 protesters including workers from a closed PSA Peugeot Citroen plant tried to break through a security cordon around the location of the car show.

"We are keen to defend our jobs. What's important for us is to coordinate our fight because there is a need to get the upper hand to impose the end of job losses and factories' closure," former candidate for presidential election, Philippe Poutou told news channel BFMTV.

France's largest car maker Peugeot announced in July a plan to cut 8,000 jobs from its plants in France, as French unemployment rate now stands above 10 percent and the number of jobless hit a 13-year high.

Job losses may go further as reports said a wave of thousands of jobs slash in French drugmaker Sanofi-aventis, flag carrier Air France and telecoms operator SFR were in the air, challenging Hollande's pledge to return to growth and inject new dynamism into the limp domestic industrial business.