video transcript

Protestors demonstrating against plans by French car group Peugeot to close a major plant with the loss of up to 8000 jobs clash with French riot police, hurling rocks and debris as they sought to force their way into the Paris car show. Police fought back with blasts of tear gas at the protesters pressed up against the closed barriers of the show, chanting insults at the security forces. Peugeot, one of the carmakers worst hit by a market collapse and price war in Europe, announced the job cuts in July along with the closure of its Aulnay plant near Paris, in a bid to halt mounting losses, drawing criticism from unions and several ministers in the Socialist government which was voted in earlier this year on a platform of fighting unemployment.