French Restaurateurs Protest Smoking Ban

Chairman of French publishing house Gallimard, Antoine Gallimard, addresses reporters in Paris, Monday, Nov. 6, 2006 after the promulgation of the 2006 Goncourt literary prize. Gallimard, editor of American writer Jonathan Littell who was awarded the prestigious Goncourt literary prize on Monday, said the author was "very happy" about the prize but that he preferred to remain out of the limelight. Littell won the Goncourt Prize for "Les Bienveillantes," or "The Kindly Ones," a 900-page novel narrated by a Nazi SS officer, and written in French. The book will be published in the United States in 2008, following an extensive bidding war won by HarperCollins. (AP Photo/Michel Euler) (Michel Euler - AP)

PARIS -- Tobacco vendors and restaurateurs in some 70 cities around France protested Monday against the country's smoking ban, which is to take effect next year.

The demonstrators were demanding that tobacco vendors be allowed to choose whether or not to go nonsmoking. They also demanded a five-year delay in applying the ban, which is to start in February in public places including offices and schools and in 2008 will apply to restaurants, dance clubs and some bars.

"We ask that each vendor be given the right to choose whether his establishment will be smoking or nonsmoking," said Gerard Bohelay, who heads the tobacco vendors' association for the Paris region.

In the French capital, roughly 100 protesters held banners reading "A boss' choice: To smoke or not to smoke" and "Five year delay." They brandished their voter registration cards in a sign to lawmakers that their choices in next year's presidential and legislative elections will hinge on the ban.

Philippe de Villiers, a far-right politician who attended the Paris demonstration, pledged to support vendors who refuse to heed what he called an "iniquitous law."

Smokers who infringe the ban will face $95 fines, while owners of buildings where the violations take place will be subject to twice that.

Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced the ban last month, saying it was to be ordered "by decree," a maneuver that allows the government to avert a potentially explosive parliamentary debate ahead of elections next year.