Protesters 'will not hit Cannes'

Cannes film festival runs no risk of being shut down by French striking arts workers, festival managers have said.

Festival director Dominique Cayla said relations with protesters were "good" and there was no reason the annual event "should go badly".

The workers have been on strike since last summer in protest at reforms which have reduced their benefits.

They have threatened to protest at the festival, which begins on Wednesday amid tightened security.

As well as the threat from protesters, there is the added fear of a possible terrorist attack.

The workers have been striking since August 2003

Security measures

More than 1,000 police officers will be on duty in the wake of the train bombings in Madrid two months ago, which killed 191 people.

The security measures are above and beyond those imposed after the 11 September attacks on the US.

But neither the terror threat nor the protesters will have an adverse impact on the festival, Dominique Cayla said.

Asked if Cannes was at risk of closing, she replied, "There's absolutely no question of that."

She said the protesters had the festival management's support.

"We respect their desire to be heard, to make their point of view known, and they have often told us that they absolutely want the showings and the artists' appearances to take place in good conditions," she said.

Changes

Until January, France's 100,000 arts industry employees qualified for year-round unemployment benefit if they worked for just three months in a year.

But changes introduced by the government reduced the amount of benefits - while tightening requirements to qualify for them.

Last week the government announced details of a fund which would make payouts over a limited period to workers who clocked 507 hours over a 12-month period.

But union officials rejected the plan as "provocation".

Protesters plan to carry out small-scale protests to get their message into the public domain.

At the weekend about 100 of them briefly blocked a shipment of movie reels headed for Cannes.