PARIS (AP) -- French police have fired tear gas at steelworkers trying to force their way toward the headquarters of President Nicolas Sarkozy's re-election campaign.
About 200 workers from an ArcelorMittal plant in Florange in northeast France came to Paris in buses Thursday as part of a protest movement started last month to try to save jobs at the plant and in the industry.
After disembarking, they tried to walk toward Sarkozy's campaign office, and were met by riot police and gendarmes who tried to push the protesters back with shields. After several minutes of fighting, the police fired tear gas to break up the crowd.
Jobs and the economy are central to the campaign for France's presidential elections, held in two rounds April 22 and May 6.