French students and trade unions have staged protest marches across the country against far-reaching labour reforms.
Wednesday's protests have tested President Francois Hollande's mettle as he tries to lower an unemployment rate still stuck above 10 per cent.
Organisers said hundreds of thousands of people took part while the interior ministry put the figure at 224,000, though that is less than in some previous nationwide demonstrations in France.
The demonstrations take place on the same day as a national rail strike, with on in three SNCF railway workers on strike.
Unions said the protests were just "a warm-up" ahead of further planned rallies.
The government will be keen to prevent the simmering discontent among students, traditionally at the forefront of France's largest protest movements, from boiling over in coming weeks.
The government's reforms put almost all aspects of France's strictly codified rules on labour relations up for negotiation.
Everything from maximum working hours to holidays and pay on rest breaks would be open to scrutiny in an attempt to free up business, but the main focus is on plans to limit the cost of laying off workers.
Those in favour say the reforms will encourage companies to take on more workers on permanent contracts rather than temporary ones, favouring young people in particular, but unions see an undue threat to job security.
Although the official working week would remain set at 35 hours, unions and employers would be able to negotiate in-house deals to spread the workload over three years, and increase it to a maximum of 46 hours over 16 consecutive weeks.
The labour reforms are set against a backdrop of sluggish economic growth, which has remained below 1.5 per cent, the level considered necessary to bring down unemployment.
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