According to published reports, a French protest organized by students and unions turned out some 450,000 people nationwide and hundreds of thousands more in Paris, clogging parts of the city. A one-day strike by various labor unions disrupted Air France and airport operations, in addition to railways and city transit. The country's civil aviation authority told The New York Times that about 30 percent of flights, mostly domestic, had been canceled, and that Paris airports reported only minor delays. There were also reports of delays on the Paris Metro and railways. The marches were in opposition to French government legislation making it easier to fire workers under the age of 26.
