Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Guards take part in a protest at Fresnes prison near Paris after an assault on officers 
 
 A series of attacks against prison guards by inmates at institutions across France has led to a nationwide strike in the country. 
 
 Unions have vowed a "total blockade" of prisons on Monday as their dispute with the government over safety improvements and wage rises enters its second week. 
 
 France's Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said she would meet union leaders to try to end the crisis. 
 
 Last week, unions rejected government proposals to end the strikes. 
 
 Guards at prisons across the country, including the high-security institutions Fleury-Mérogis and Fresnes prison outside Paris, are on Monday taking part in protests supported by France's CGT union, the Force Ouvrière (FO) union and the Ufap-Unsa Justice union. 
 
 France's justice ministry has urged union representatives to "resume dialogue immediately", adding that it was the responsibility of all sides to ensure that prisons were functioning. 
 
 The strike comes after a number of guards were injured in scuffles at several prisons. 
 
 Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Prison officers are blocking streets outside prisons in a call for tighter security 
 
 Last week, three officers were assaulted in an attack at Fresnes prison, which is situated south of Paris. 
 
 On Sunday, two prison guards required hospital treatment after they were attacked at a detention centre at Longuenesse prison, near Calais, according to prison officials. 
 
 "This is once again an attack on the staff, we cannot stand it anymore," spokesman for the Ufap-Unsa union, Yannick Lefebvre, said, adding: "It's a daily thing." 
 
 The unions are taking further action after rejecting a draft agreement proposing the creation of 1,100 guard jobs over four years. 
 
 Currently, the prison service employs 28,000 guards in 188 establishments holding about 78,000 prisoners, according to AFP news agency. ||||| PARIS (AP) — Protesting guards are blocking some of France's 188 prisons as the conflict triggered by attacks on guards enters its second week. 
 
 About 100 guards protested in front of the Marseille prison on Monday, setting a small fire and blocking entrances. It wasn't immediately clear how many prisons were affected by the protests — or how many people had responded to a call by the Workers' Force union for guards to walk off the job entirely. 
 
 Unions representing protesting prison guards called for a "total blockage" as the Justice Ministry said a new round of talks was expected. Guards rejected ministry proposals last week. 
 
 Attacks in about a half-dozen prisons have fueled guards' demands for more staff and better security. ||||| Pascal Pochard-Casabianca, AFP | Prison guards protest in front of the Borgo prison in Bastia on January 19, 2018. 
 
 A week-long French prison strike sparked by a spate of inmate attacks on guards looks set to enter a second week after unions on Saturday rejected proposals to end the standoff. 
 
 A solution to the crisis had looked to be inching closer after two of France's three major prison unions -- CGT and Ufap-Unsa -- suspended a protest action to put fresh proposals on security and employment to staff after a week of tension. 
 
 But by Saturday evening both those unions said their members had rejected the proposals as they called for a "total blockage" of prisons on Monday. 
 
 The strike has seen guards across the country down tools following a string of attacks by inmates and scuffles at jails, including Europe's biggest, Fleury-Merogis just south of Paris. 
 
 A third major union, FO, did not join the talks and called for an even tougher stance after rejecting a draft agreement proposing the creation of 1,100 guard jobs over four years, "including a first tranche of 100 jobs from 2018". 
 
 Currently, the prison service employs 28,000 guards in 188 establishments holding about 78,000 prisoners. 
 
 The CGT said it would not sign up to the floated proposals it dubbed as "falling well short" of their demands and called on members to follow its call to blockade all prisons from Monday. 
 
 They were later backed by Ufap-Unsa, the biggest union representing some 40 percent of prison staff. 
 
 The draft proposals text, which was sent to Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet, included measures to improve security for guards and a defined regime for "terrorist and radicalised detainees", allowing for a "total lockdown on the management of most dangerous detainees". 
 
 FO fiercely opposes the proposals, with the union's deputy secretary general Yoan Karar labelling them as "window dressing". 
 
 Reforms promised 
 
 On Friday in Borgo on Corsica, three inmates, including one under surveillance for Islamic radicalisation, attacked two guards with a knife, wounding one of them seriously. 
 
 On January 11, German convict Christian Ganczarski, a former top Al-Qaeda militant, attacked three officers with scissors and a razor blade at a high-security prison in northern France. 
 
 Two other attacks followed in less than a week, prompting guards to launch a nationwide strike calling for improved security at often overcrowded prisons. 
 
 Prison authorities said the strikes were affecting 80 of France's facilities. 
 
 French guards have long complained of low pay, insufficient staffing and overcrowding -- the Fresnes prison near Paris is currently at 200 percent capacity. 
 
 And they increasingly warn they are endangered by inmates under the sway of Islamic extremists. 
 
 President Emmanuel Macron has promised to outline plans for an overhaul of the prisons system by the end of February, expected to include facility renovations and expansions to house an additional 15,000 inmates. 
 
 (AFP)
– Protesting guards are blocking some of France's 188 prisons as a conflict triggered by attacks on guards enters its second week. About 100 guards protested in front of the Marseille prison on Monday, setting a small fire and blocking entrances. It wasn't immediately clear how many prisons were affected by the protests—or how many people had responded to a call by the Workers' Force union for guards to walk off the job entirely. Unions representing protesting prison guards called for a "total blockage" as the Justice Ministry said a new round of talks was expected. Guards rejected ministry proposals last week, the AP reports. Attacks in about a half-dozen prisons have fueled guards' demands for more staff and better security. In one of the latest incidents, two guards were hospitalized after being attacked in a prison near Calais on Sunday. France's Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet says she will meet with union officials in an effort to end the crisis and ensure prisons function normally, the BBC reports. France 24 reports a proposal the unions rejected over the weekend as "window dressing" promised tougher measures to deal with "terrorist and radicalized detainees," including a "total lockdown on the management of most dangerous detainees."