FRANCE LABOUR PROTESTS Issued on 18-05-2016 • Modified 18-05-2016 to 09:49 Hollande digs in on labour reforms despite protests by RFI Police confront protesters in Paris on May 17 REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes French President Francois Hollande vowed Tuesday to stick with his controversial attempts to reform the labour market, even as a new round of violent protests broke out. The labour reforms have sparked two months of protests on France's streets, drawing 68,000 nationwide on Tuesday, authorities said, while organisers put the turnout at 220,000. "Withdraw, withdraw this law of the wealthy, it's the law of the bosses," was the message blasted from loudspeakers at the Paris march. Persistent unemployment But Hollande said the battle against unemployment was not yet won and he placed the need to reform over his personal popularity, which remains at near-record lows a year ahead of a possible bid for re-election. "I will not give way, because too many (previous) governments have backed down," Hollande said in an hour-long interview with Europe 1 radio. "I prefer that people have an image of a president who made reforms rather than a president who did nothing," he said. Police were quick to act as violence by masked youths broke out during the march in central Paris, kicking off another week of nationwide strikes and demonstrations against the package of reforms. Some 87 people were arrested. Ongoing protests Demonstrations were also reported in cities across the country from Marseille in the south to central Lyon and Lille in the north. Lorry drivers blocked roads and ports in northern and western France, and there were clashes between protesters and police in the western cities of Nantes and Rennes, where thousands more took to the streets. "We have been ignored, so we will work even harder to make our voices heard," said Philippe Martinez, head of the CGT union, at the Paris rally. The government argues the changes contained in the draft law will make France's notoriously rigid labour market more flexible, but opponents say it will erode job security and do little to bring down the unemployment rate, stuck at 10 percent and nearly 25 percent for young people. The labour reform, which would make it easier for employers to hire and fire workers, is likely the last major piece of legislation for Hollande, the least popular leader in modern French history who faces a re-election next May. Hollande has pledged to decide by the end of this year whether to run for a second term, but he said Tuesday he saw "no alternative" to himself on the left of French politics.