THOUSANDS of government supporters were gathering in Paris today to vent their fury over a public transport strike and to cheer on President Nicolas Sarkozy’s economic reforms.

After days of transport chaos and deadlock over one of the key reforms, the railway workers’ strike seemed set to continue even though the number involved is decreasing each day. A separate protest by students is also dragging on.

The government has taken comfort from widespread anger at the disruption to public transport. Reports of strikers obstructing railway lines to prevent trains leaving stations have provoked indignation.

In the presidential entourage a discussion went on about whether – and when – to use force against a small band of militants if they carried on blocking transport when the majority had gone back to work.

The SNCF rail company said that only 32% of its staff were on strike on Friday compared with 61% on Wednesday, the first day of the action. The strikes were estimated by the government to have cost France about 0.1% of its GDP.

Various groups have sprung up to protest against the strikers’ struggle to keep their retirement privileges under a “special regimes” system that Sarkozy wants to abolish. Organisers hoped to attract 40,000 to today’s demonstration in an attempt to persuade the unions to back down.

Rail workers will vote today on whether to heed a call from the leader of one of the more moderate unions to return to work in exchange for talks with the government. A militant core wants to carry on the strike at least until Tuesday when civil servants, postal workers and teachers are all expected to stop work for the day.

The strike has turned into a trial of strength over reform of the “special regimes”, a system considered unfair because it allows 500,000 workers – about one tenth of the public sector – to retire on a full pension much earlier than the others. Train drivers can stop work at 50.

Some gas and electricity workers and employees of the state opera and theatre companies also benefit because of what were once considered to be difficult working conditions.

“It’s very irritating,” said Didier Neyrat, a businessman, “to see this small group of workers holding the country hostage. I’m glad we’ve elected a president who wants to change things.”

Sarkozy insists that talks cannot begin until the strikers go back to work. “You cannot negotiate with a revolver against your head,” he told his staff last week.

At the same time – and in accordance with Sarkozy’s “work more, earn more” gospel – the government is willing to offer salary increases to workers who put off retirement.

Union hardliners dream of a repeat of the great union triumph of 1995 when an attempt by the then president, Jacques Chirac, to tinker with the “special regimes” prompted two weeks of strikes and protest, precipitating the early dissolution of the government and new elections in which the left came to power.

Conditions this time are different and not only because of the public’s overwhelming opposition to the strikers: Sarkozy was elected on a mandate of “rupture” with the past and repeatedly told voters he would do away with the “special regimes”.

He also pledged to “liquidate” the culture of protest. That seemed ambitious, however, as Trotskyist students intensified their revolt with sit-ins at dozens of campuses across France.

The students have pledged support for the railway workers in the hope of forming an “antiSarko” front and the chaos of what some are calling “Black November” risks spreading on Tuesday when civil servants will stop work. They are protesting against government plans to streamline the bureaucracy by not replacing one in three retiring civil servants.

A plan to streamline the justice system, meanwhile, with the closure of dozens of courts has sparked the fury of judges and lawyers, who will stage their own protest next Thursday.

“The president told us November would be difficult,” said an aide to Sarkozy. He was right.

Video report on the strikes

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