French students hold fresh protests against reform

By Francois Murphy

PARIS (Reuters) - Thousands of French students held protests on Tuesday over President Nicolas Sarkozy's university reform but the largest union said it had made progress in talks with the government.

The students fear the reform will create a two-tier education system funded by big businesses and have been blocking university campuses around France for several weeks in protest.

The student action comes at a difficult time for Sarkozy, following nearly two weeks of strikes by transport workers and during a spate of violence in poor Paris suburbs.

Between 43 and 46 of France's 85 universities were blocked on Tuesday and around 3,000 university and high school students marched in central Paris, chanting "we don't want to be fodder for bosses" and calling for the law to be scrapped.

Police said there were around 1,500 protesters in Bordeaux, with one banner reading "No to the law ... and to two-speed studies." Demonstrations drew about 1,000 protesters each in Rouen and Marseille, according to police, though organisers said the numbers were higher.

The protests were designed to coincide with a meeting between the five main student unions and Higher Education Minister Valerie Pecresse.

Unef, the largest student union, said important progress had been made and its members would decide in the next couple of days whether to end their protest.

"We consider that there was some progress for students," said Unef spokeswoman Juliette Griffond.