Clashes erupted on the streets of Paris this morning between student protesters and police over the government's labour reform plans, which put almost all aspects of France's strictly codified labour rules up for negotiation.

In the revised version, the government will no longer impose a cap on severance pay for dismissed workers, a measure many companies argued would have helped reduce the uncertainty of going through the industrial court system. Instead, the new limits will be introduced as non-binding guidelines. 

But the French government failed to convince student organisations of the merits of its labour reform plans, and the unions stepped out of the meetings making renewed calls for street protests.

Twenty-three students unions have called demonstrations throughout France.