Hanover - Around three thousand employees of German car parts group Continental AG protested outside its annual shareholders' meeting Thursday against the company's plans to close factories as it faces up to the global auto crisis. The demonstrators included about 1,200 French Continental workers, who had travelled to the meeting to protest about the group's moves to shut down operations in Clairoix in northern France.

Protestors outside the Continental annual general meeting in the west German city of Hanover carried large crosses to mark the shutting down of the plants and placards declaring "Thanks for Nothing."

The demonstrations in Hanover followed violent protests earlier this week after French workers went on the rampage after a court rejected an attempt to block the shutting down of the Continental plant in Clairoix.

The closures form part of a far-reaching business shakeout announced by Continental in March amid sharply falling car sales, contracting auto production around the world and the deepening global recession.

In addition to closing factories, the restructuring included the elimination of about 1,900 jobs over the next 12 months.

Under the proposals, Hanover-based Continental will stop producing truck and bus tyres at its main Hanover plant as well as shutting a passenger car-tyre factory in Clairoix in France by March 2010.

However, Thursday's shareholder meeting is likely to be dominated by controversial takeover of the heavily indebted Continental by another car parts manufacturer, the Schaeffler Group.

The loan-backed takeover has left the privately owned Schaeffler battling to survive the auto industry downturn and has called on the German government to provide it with financial assistance to help it through the auto sector crisis. (dpa)