Last night, after incidents in the Latin Quarter (lol, I always love the sound of that), he was very careful and uncharacteristically diplomatic in making clear that violence was carried out by extremists (right and left) and "hooligans", and had nothing to do with the demonstration, which had gone off without a hitch. And that he had given instructions to the police not to attack genuine student demonstrators because of provocateurs mixed in with them, etc.

The worry of a link-up between students and the banlieues seems to me to be based on that: if middle-class kids join underclass kids in burning cars, how will Sarko avoid nasty fallout for the middle-class kids and a bad image for him with the conservative electorate? It's all the difference between trawling for votes far to the right by shitting on underclass youth, and looking after the kids of his core electorate.

As to the possibility of a link-up, it's not entirely far-fetched. It seems there's no essential difference of view between the students and the banlieue kids about the CPE. Neither group sees the move toward liberalization of the labour market as a good thing for them. Secondly, there's some intersection between the groups, especially at high-school level. Many of the underclass kids are school drop-outs, most are not. The more successful of them go on to university studies. Communication between the two groups is therefore possible.

Anyway, my feeling on hearing Sarkozy's comments in the Latin Quarter late last night was that he was "walking on eggs".

Students support France's disaffected youth

Hostility to the contract from people in the poor suburbs is a blow to Dominique de Villepin, the prime minister, who claimed last weekend that the measure was designed to help "the young people in most difficulty".

Mr de Villepin seemed to be telling the student protesters in central Paris not to worry. As graduates of prestigious universities, such as the Sorbonne, they are not the intended recipients of the new contract. Instead, it is meant for the poorly-educated immigrant children in "les banlieues", who rioted and set fire to thousands of cars and buildings across France last year.

But this argument is being undermined by an increasing number of people in the suburbs repeating the same criticisms as the student demonstrators. The only difference is that people in the poor outer-city ghettos say they have the added worry of racial discrimination.

Edilson Monteiro, an 18-year-old school drop-out from Montfermeil, says: "Before the `first job contract', there were enough difficulties for people from the banlieues, with the difference in our clothes, our language and our culture, but now they are making things even more insecure.

"Young people are very worried about entering the world of work. Now if I make a mistake or upset the boss, he can just get rid of me without any reason," says Edilson, whose mother brought him to the local job centre after he quit as a construction sales agent.

Now he plans to retrain as a cook's assistant in a six-month paid training scheme, which if he passes, will lead to a full-time contract. He would refuse a "first job contract" if offered one. "Two years is too long. I'm with the demonstrators on that."

Many people have a deep distrust of company bosses, and suspect they are looking for any excuse to fire black or Arab workers.

And even on their front page:

French PM appeals for calm over labour reforms

Mr de Villepin's claim that the policy would help those "most in difficulty" is increasingly undermined by growing opposition from unemployed youths in poor suburbs.Young people in Clichy-sous-Bois, the run-down Paris suburb where last year's riots started, almost unanimously opposed the contract in interviews with the Financial Times this week. Many claimed they would turn down a job if offered one of the new contracts.

Most criticisms focused on the length of the trial period and the added insecurity it would bring. However, their hostility was also tinged with suspicions that it would give company bosses another way to discriminate against racial minorities. "If your head does not please the boss, that's it, you're finished," said Dapton, 21, an unemployed accountancy graduate at Aulnay-sous-Bois. Diabira Adama, 26, an unemployed computer technician queuing at a job centre in Clichy-sous-Bois, said: "It is totally unacceptable . . . it's great they are demonstrating in Paris."