Springtime In Paris

When I took French in school, one of my teachers explained that every spring, as the weather started to warm, college students would take to the streets in protest. It didn't really matter what the reason for the protest was; they'd find one. The whole point was to escape the monotony of the class-and-study routine and get back out in the fresh air.

This year is no exception, as Parisian college students' protests have turned to rioting over a recent policy designed to help the youth of France. Friday's report from the London Telegraph (HT: Hugh Hewitt) included this explanation of the reason for the riots:

The French interior ministry said an operation had begun to round up 300 trouble-makers considered to be at the heart of the violence. Student leaders claimed that more than 120,000 protesters took to the streets of Paris. They were showing their resistance to the centre-Right government's new law allowing employers to hire young workers on special contracts and giving them the right to fire them without reason.

French youths want guarantees. French employers don't want to give guarantees to the young, who may not prove to be good workers. These special contracts would allow employers to give young workers a chance to prove themselves, so the employers don't have to get shackled to poor workers.

It's the tiniest opening of free market concepts in a nation that long ago opted for controlled economic principles. And the youths don't like it. They want to keep the nanny state in a status quo that's on track to bankrupt the nation.

Meanwhile, today's AP reported (HT: WorldNetDaily) that Paris police are still working on subduing the protesters. And "Springtime in Paris" has spread across the country. I don't know if the French government has the either the stomach or the spine to stand up to the rioters and continue the policies it believes are best for France as a whole.