By Estelle Shirbon
PARIS (Reuters) - French factory workers who vandalised buildings to protest against layoffs will face prosecution, Prime Minister Francois Fillon said on Wednesday.
French workers threatened by mass layoffs have taken increasingly radical action such as locking up their managers, putting pressure on the government to contain violence whilst showing understanding for sacked workers' suffering.
On Tuesday, some employees from a tyre plant run by German car parts group Continental that is due to be closed stormed a company office and a government building, smashing windows, trashing computers and breaking furniture.
"The violence was unacceptable, but it was carried out by a small minority of employees and it must not distract attention from the future of Continental and of its employees," Fillon said on France Inter radio.
"There is a very active, very violent minority and concerning yesterday's violence I say very clearly that there will be prosecutions," he said.
Fillon said the government was doing its utmost to avert the worst-case scenario at the Continental plant in the northern town of Clairoix, which employs 1,120 people. The firm, hit by the auto industry crisis, said it had to shut the plant down.
The government was offering to mediate between management and employees to try and find a way out of the crisis, and was also searching for another company that could take over the site, Fillon said.
The government's handling of the economic crisis is unpopular, especially among blue-collar workers who feel too much is being done for banks and big companies and not enough for them, and Fillon was at pains to show compassion.
"The government understands the anger of the employees of this company, where dialogue between workers and management seems to be extremely difficult," he said.
He criticised certain politicians, including former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, for stoking a climate of social tension. In a radio interview on Sunday, Villepin spoke of "a revolutionary risk" in France.
"That is an irresponsible attitude from someone who used to be the head of the French government," Fillon said.
"It's true that he (Villepin) doesn't have much experience of dialogue between workers and employers," he said. Though from the same centre-right camp as Fillon, Villepin is out of favour due to past tensions with President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Seeking to counter-balance an almost daily tide of news of mass layoffs, demonstrations, boss detentions or other radical protests, Fillon said the government was working well with the labour unions to cushion the effects of the crisis.
"Villepin should look at what is happening today in our country in terms of social dialogue. There are semi-permanent meetings between the government and the unions and note that many agreements are being reached," he said.
