Prison wardens are surrounded by French gendarmes as they block the Lyon-Corbas jail near Lyon during a nationwide protest, France, January 22, 2018. REUTERS/Emmanuel Foudrot
PARIS (Reuters) - French prison guards launched a nationwide strike on Monday in a showdown with President Emmanuel Macron's government over staff levels and violence that they say is spiralling out of control inside the country's overcrowded jails.
The strike, starting with pre-dawn pickets, marked an escalation in protests after unions this weekend rejected a government proposal to employ 100 extra guards this year and a further 1,000 before the 2022 end of Macron's mandate.
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