Hundreds of thousands of angry and fearful French workers mounted nationwide strikes and protests Thursday to demand President Nicolas Sarkozy do far more to fight the economic crisis there.
Public and private sector workers united in the protest to seek increases in salaries, greater protection for their jobs and more intensive government efforts to stimulate the economy.
Meanwhile, people were forced to walk or bike to work or to the grocery.
One tearful French man told a horrifying story of having to settle for his next door neighbor's ugly wife.
Still another lamented that there were never enough people in groups to hide the smell of cheese.
"And the restaurants, the only way to get service is to scream at the waiters in German."
