PARIS, April 14 (Xinhua) -- Some 50 France Soir employees organized by trade unions demonstrated Friday outside the French Culture Ministry to ask the government to intervene over the planned job cuts.
The newspaper's new owners, real estate developer Jean-Pierre Brunois and sports journalist Olivier Rey, envisioned to cut half of the 112 employees and relaunch France Soir as a popular newspaper focused on sports, horse racing and show business gossip.
France Soir on Friday ran a special edition, with the word "Resistance" crossing the front page and the politics and culture pages left blank to reflect the planned closure of both departments, as well as the photography and research services.
Founded in 1944, France Soir, once a big newspaper passing the million-copy in 1960s has seen its circulation shrink to just 50,633 copies in 2005.
The paper entered bankruptcy proceeding on Oct. 27 due to financial difficulties. It re-published in February the 12 controversial cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad after their publication in Denmark and Norway.
