Paris

French students are threatening more protests over job contracts that allow people under 26 to be fired more easily after President Jacques Chirac this week backed their introduction. The student union Unef claimed that 52 universities were on strike, but ministers said that only 17 had been closed and 11 disrupted. About 50 occupying students were evicted from the College de France on Tuesday, but without the violence used last weekend to end a three-day occupation of the Sorbonne by 200 demonstrators. Several university presidents have expressed support for the campaign to halt the legislation.