Dock workers throw smoke bombs as labor protests escalate nationwide

Thousands of dock workers poured into a public square in the French port city of Le Havre on Thursday, setting off smoke bombs as part of escalating nationwide protests against a labor bill that would loosen protections for French workers.

As union activists disrupted fuel supplies, trains and nuclear plants during a day of demonstrations around the country, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls opened the door to possible changes but said the government would not abandon the bill, which would make the country's 35-hour workweek more flexible, among other provisions.

The draft law, aimed at boosting hiring after a decade of nearly 10 percent unemployment and slow but corrosive economic decline, has escalated into the toughest challenge yet to President Francois Hollande and his Socialist government.