PARIS (AP) — Thousands of French young people and trade unionists have held street protests to reject the government's new labor changes.

More than 100 high schools were closed across the country Thursday due to the protests called by student organizations and backed by some worker unions.

The main demonstration gathered about 9,000 people in Paris, according to the police. The UNEF student organization estimated that more than 150,000 protesters participated across France.

Small groups of students had minor incidents with police in the cities of Paris, Marseille and Rennes.

The government bill plans to water down the country's 35-hour workweek and relax some labor rules in the hopes of boosting hiring. The protesters, however, claim it would mostly damage laws aimed at protecting workers.

Zoia Guschlbauer, president of the FIDL, an organization of high school students, said the mobilization "shows that young people are concerned about this bill because it's their future, and they want its full withdrawal."

"There's a whole bunch of measures that are harmful to the job market, youth, society as a whole, and that's why we don't want it," said Maxence Termignon, a 25 year-old unemployed qualified engineer.

France has among the world's most stringent workers rights laws. The government and businesses want the changes to make hiring and laying off workers easier.

The proposal technically maintains the 35-hour workweek, but allows companies to organize alternative working times without following industry-wide deals, up to a 48-hour workweek and 12 hours per day.

The government tried to gain support from some worker unions by making a few changes in the bill on Monday. It has withdrawn measures that relaxed rules on working from home and at night and has introduced the control of a judge to ensure that multinational companies don't organize the artificial bankruptcy of their French branch in order to justify layoffs.

Worker unions and youth organizations have called for new protests on March 24 — when the bill is presented at Cabinet — and on March 31.