French labor unrest: tear gas, blocked roads, president firm

PARIS — Tear gas briefly choked a Left Bank neighborhood and truckers blocked highways in Provence and Normandy in new tensions over a French labor bill Tuesday — but the president insisted that he won’t abandon the contested reform.

A peaceful march Tuesday by union members that wound through Paris’ tourist-heavy Montparnasse neighborhood was interrupted when masked protesters threw projectiles, including broken cafe chairs.

Riot police responded with tear gas that rose up in the surrounding streets.

Truck drivers joined in the protests Tuesday, blocking roads around Marseille and the western cities of Nantes and Le Mans.

Hollande said those who come to protests just “to break things” would be punished, saying that 350 police officers have been injured in recent weeks and 60 people convicted.

Paris police banned 40 people from taking part in Tuesday’s march through the capital, prompting some to file an emergency complaint for the alleged violation of their fundamental right to demonstrate.

In another development Tuesday, the French government plans to allow divorce by mutual consent to proceed without a judge, to simplify and accelerate the process.