The French prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, has stirred up a hornet's nest with his new law designed to lower his country's youth unemployment, currently one of the highest in the EU.
Students have taken to the streets, briefly occupying parts of the Sorbonne until police turfed them out, and unions are expecting a big turnout - maybe as many as a million - for protests this weekend.
The law that lit the fuse for the latest bout of unrest is the 'contrat première embauche' (CPE). Under the initiative, which has been approved by parliament, an employer can end a contract for 18 to 25-year-olds with little notice.
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