French police arrest 130 protesters as violence overshadowed protests against labor reform

French police on Tuesday arrested 130 people after thousands of secondary school students staged a fresh nationwide protest against the government's proposal to reform the labor code, according to local media reports.

Dozens of youth who joined the student rally were arrested "for identity verification" after they threw projectiles, stones and glass bottles at security forces who responded with tear gas to disperse the crowd, local media reported, citing Paris police.

Up to 3,400 demonstrators took to the streets of the French capital earlier on Tuesday to force the government to drop a reform they said would undermine workers' economic situation and make jobs harder to get, police data showed.

Protests were also reported in the main French cities for the fifth such movement despite the government's initiative to amend the reform.

"The message of the youth is clear, they oppose the draft labor bill," said the national school union (UNL).

Ministers of education, labor and youth will receive representative of main students' organizations on Wednesday to try to bridge differences and discuss ways to facilitate professional integration of French youth, according to local reports.

With the unemployment rate at 10.2 percent, the Socialist government planned to loosen labor rules by making layoffs easier, reducing overtime pay and economic redundancies, and opening working hours and holidays to negotiation.

French unions and leftist politicians, however, say such moves would create more low-paid jobs and further weaken workers' positions. Endit