JOIN USFrance look to nail fear factor
Two days before the start of Euro 2016, rubbish piled up in parts of Paris on Wednesday and trains were disrupted as strikes and political turmoil over labour reforms dragged on.
Organisers of Europe's four-yearly football extravaganza already face security jitters and Britain joined the United States in warning the tournament could be a target for terror attacks.
But the immediate concern was unresolved strikes, with union blockades of incineration centres in the Paris region causing widespread disruption.
The piles of uncollected household rubbish accumulating in parts of the capital, giving off a foul smell as the temperatures rise, was hardly the image of France that the Euro 2016 organisers want to convey.
Meanwhile, rail workers went on strike for an eighth day as unions chewed over an offer from the SNCF rail operator to end their dispute. Hundreds of union activists lit red smoke flares in a protest rally in the Gare du Nord station, the departure point for Eurostar trains to Britain and other services to northern Europe.
El Khomri is a target of workers' anger after forcing a controversial labour market reform through parliament without a vote. The furious minister said that after four months, the protests were going too far and "violating family life".
Negotiations continued with Air France pilots, who have threatened to go on strike for four days from Saturday, when an estimated two million foreign visitors will be arriving to watch the football.
"The government, through its obstinate approach, carries the entire responsibility for the conflict continuing," the CGT union, which has spearheaded the strikes, said.
The CGT wants the Socialist government to scrap the labour reforms, which unions say are stacked in favour of employers and will chip away at job security.
President Francois Hollande has refused to back down, saying the reforms are necessary to bring down unemployment and make it easier for companies to take on new staff and release them in a downturn.
Be vigilant
France is already on high alert for terror attacks during the month-long tournament, which takes place seven months after gunmen and suicide bombers from the Islamic State group killed 130 people in Paris.
Britain on Tuesday warned its citizens there was a ‘high threat from terrorism’ during the championship.
The Foreign Office said fans who will travel to France to watch matches featuring England, Northern Ireland and Wales should be "vigilant at all times".
The US State Department made a similar warning last week, also pinpointing the risk that venues showing the matches on TV ‘in France and across Europe’ were potential targets. The arrest of a Frenchman with alleged far-right sympathies in possession of an arsenal of weapons in Ukraine on Monday has heightened fears.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazenueve said security forces were leaving nothing to chance.