Violence erupts amid national strikes in France

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PARIS, Oct. 19 (agencies): During the sixth national strike after the summer vacation protesting the French pension reform, sporadic violence erupted Tuesday between young demonstrators and riot police in Paris' suburb.
According to local media, some 200 high school students rallied in northern Paris suburb Naterre, where confrontation between students and riots police took place on Monday.
The youngsters torched a car and projected smoking substance to riot police.
Last morning, police arrested a dozen of young delinquents sending fire to a car and destroying a bus station while dispersing their blockage near a school.
Till Monday, there were 22 policemen were injured and 196 young students were arrested across France, local media reported. The most violent incidents were observed in Lyon on Monday with cars overturned, torched, and molotov cocktails thrown to police.
The Education Ministry recorded 379 high schools were shut down Tuesday morning, the highest number since such nationwide strikes took on the streets in September.
In Mans, a city not far Paris, a school was found totally burn down in the morning. Major Jean-Claude Boulard attributed the fire to man-made criminal.
Meanwhile: France is enduring a sixth national day of strikes and protests over plans to reform the country's pension system.
Mass marches are planned across France while strikes disrupt air travel, trains and schools, and an ongoing refinery blockade hits oil supplies.
The government wants to raise the retirement age from 60 to 62 and the full state pension age from 65 to 67.
President Nicolas Sarkozy insists he will press ahead with pension reforms despite the growing strike movement.
But with the Senate due for a final vote this week, protests are planned in more than 200 towns and cities.
We shouldn't think it's still acceptable to stop working at 60 years old - we should work untll 65"
The plans are widely unpopular with the public and protests on Monday turned violent in some areas.