France Vows Smooth Euro as Fans Flock to Opening Game

France vowed ongoing strikes would not ruin Euro 2016, where football fans waded through layers of security to attend Friday's opening game in a tournament fraught with terror fears.

Thousands of fans gathered at the Stade de France, north of Paris, the site of three suicide bombings during last November's attacks that have kept the city on high alert.

Holding beers or wearing brightly-colored wigs, fans submitted to numerous searches as months of gloom and doom in France finally appeared to give way to football fun.

The European championship comes after months of woes in France, with the country hit by terror attacks, floods, political turmoil and strikes.

"The image that is being given is not the one we wanted," chief organizer Jacques Lambert admitted before the tournament's opening match between the hosts and Romania.

Seven months after the co-ordinated attacks by the Islamic State group left 130 people dead around Paris, die-hard fans like Daniel Suciu from Romania refused to be cowed by fear.

"We live in a dangerous world. I know it is dangerous but to support Romania is just more important than everything," the 27-year-old told AFP as he headed to a fan zone at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.

- 'I am afraid of terrorism' -

However Julia Settgast, 28, a German student on a language course in Paris, said she was too jittery to go out and watch the match, and would do so in her Airbnb apartment.

"In Germany I would watch the matches in bars or at a public viewing, but in France... I am afraid of terrorism. I would have a bad feeling if I were going to the fan zone with so many people," she told AFP.

She said she was surprised by the palpable lack of party atmosphere in France compared to Germany.

"If it's because they are afraid of terrorism I can understand, but it's very sad."

The security fears have led to the deployment of up to 90,000 police and private security guards to protect players and supporters.

However it was rowdy fans that tested already stretched security forces with England supporters clashing with police in Marseille for a second night in a row.

Dozens of football fans hurled bottles and other objects at police, who responded with tear gas.

On Thursday night, seven people were injured in clashes in the Mediterranean city, where England face Russia on Saturday.

- Strike fears -

Just hours before kick-off, fears that a train strike would cause chaos for fans trying to reach the stadium were allayed as the main union vowed not to block transport for the opening match.

"All the supporters will be able to reach the Stade de France stadium this evening," the head of the powerful CGT union Philippe Martinez told Le Parisien website.

However Martinez, who is spearheading the industrial unrest, earlier said he would not be "blackmailed with the Euro. Our mobilization will continue."

The union is locked in a power struggle with government over labor reforms which have led to months of industrial action and often violent protests.

President Francois Hollande had earlier vowed to take "all necessary measures" to ensure the championships pass off without a hitch.

"Public services will be provided... The whole of Europe will be watching."

Both Paris and Marseille were also scrambling to clear piles of rubbish from parts of their cities after trade unionists blockaded incineration plants and some bin men walked off the job.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo sent extra rubbish trucks to clean the streets, but several visitors and locals expressed support for the French right to strike and said they were not that bothered by the messy spectacle.

"It's a pity, but I don't care really. Besides the garbage, everything is well-organized," said Moraru, a 40-year-old Romanian fan.

In another headache for organizers, Air France pilots have called for a four-day strike from Saturday, when an estimated two million foreign fans will begin arriving in earnest.

But Air France chief executive Frederic Gagey promised that more than 80 percent of flights would be operating on Saturday.

Despite the potential disruption to the football championships, the French government is refusing to budge on a law it says will help reduce unemployment.

"Let us be clear, the government has no intention of withdrawing this law, or of unraveling it," Labor Minister Myriam El Khomri told AFP.