Police estimated 15,000 people joined the march on Saturday while organisers said more than 20,000 had turned up. About 30 companies are believed to be preparing to announce redundancies. French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin is trying to push through parliament new employment legislation which will make it harder for employers to sack staff.
Parliament is set to vote on the bill in five days' time.
The vote has already been postponed from last month when his coalition partners, including the Communist party and the Greens, said the reforms did not go far enough. Jospin, worried he will frighten off outside investment with draconian labour laws, has so far refused to buckle under the pressure and amend the bill. Instead, he has focused on toughening regulations on the extent to which employees are consulted by management, raising levels of redundancy compensation in some cases and encouraging firms to retrain staff on a more permanent basis. Today, major companies and their shareholders form a lobby group. Pages will open in a new browser window External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.