Strike Hits French Schools, Transport

Parisians struggled to work in drizzle with reduced service on railways, buses and Metro underground trains. But the disruption fell well short of the worst fears of a Black Thursday for commuters.

The strikes, spearheaded by five million civil servants worried by job cuts, forced closure of many public administration offices. Many children got a day off school because teachers were on strike. Post offices and the state electricity and gas utility were also hit by the protests, largely against Prime Minister Alain Juppes austerity policies aimed at enabling France to qualify for a planned single European Union currency from 1999.

Unions were due to hold marches across France during the day. In Paris, all civil servants unions were due to unite for a march starting at 11 a.m. (0900 GMT) from the Place de la Republique.

An opinion poll for the daily Le Parisien newspaper showed 64 per cent of citizens sympathised with the strike. But unions were divided over whether the unrest presages a repeat of the 24 days of unrest that all but paralysed France last November and December.

On the ground there is a growing anger which will be expressed more and more strongly because people are fed up, Louis Viannet, head of the Communist-led CGT union, told Europe 1 radio. He called for a united front between public and private sector workers.

But Nicole Notat, head of the pro-Socialist CFDT who did not back last years strikes and who favours a single European currency, said: I find it unpleasant and incongruous that this strike is progressively becoming a catch-all. For instance, she said, striking doctors were wrongly diverting the protest from its focus on the public sector.

SNCF railways said that about a third of trains were running in France. The first Eurostar train of the day from Paris to London via the Channel Tunnel did not leave but SNCF said other trains were meant to run as normal on the route.