France's socialist government faces a fourth day of nationwide protests against its proposed labour reform on Thursday, as entertainment workers occupy theatres over changes to their unemployment benefits and Up All Night protests continue in several cities, reports RFI.
Despite good news on the employment front, President François Hollande's administration faces growing opposition from the left, its traditional base of support.
Thursday will see a fourth day of protests and strikes against labour minister Myriam El Khomri's proposed labour law, accepted after some watering-down by a few trade unions but not the militant CGT and Sud or students' and school students' organisations.
The country's economic life is unlikely to suffer major damage but thousands are expected to demonstrate in France's major cities and the law will also come under fire on traditional marches on 1 May, international workers' day.
According to some of those behind the Nuit Debout (Up All Night) protests, which have seen night-time sit-ins in Paris's Place de la République and about a dozen provincial cities, 1 May should be the occasion for that movement to hook up with organised labour.
Railworkers have already visited the Paris Nuit Debout to discuss their current dispute with the government, which led to a well-supported strike on Tuesday over plans to level down working conditions as part of opening the network up to competition.
And Nuit Debout supporters have joined actors and theatre and film technicians, who have occupied Paris's Odéon theatre since Sunday with five other provincial theatres occupied since and a show cancelled at Paris's Comédie Française on Tuesday evening.